Singapore Hot Stocks-SGX falls slightly on missed Q2 earnings

SINGAPORE, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Shares of Singapore Exchange , Asia's second-largest listed bourse operator, fell as much as 0.47 percent on Tuesday after it posted lower-than-expected quarterly earnings. At 0135 GMT, Singapore Exchange was down 0.24 percent at S$8.41 with 272,000 shares changing hands. SGX reported an adjusted 14 percent rise in October-December profit, as a jump in technology spending partially offset higher securities turnover. The company said it earned S$81.7 million ($63.5 million) adjusted net profit in October-December, compared with S$71.8 million a year ago. Analysts had forecast an average S$84.7 million net profit for the company's second quarter, according to a Reuters survey of five analysts. "Their latest earnings are unexciting. Going forward, there's still uncertainty about the merger with ASX, so SGX's shares are likely to be capped by that," said a local trader. (Reporting by Charmian Kok) Keywords: SINGAPORE MARKET STOCKS/SGX (charmian.kok@thomsonreuters.com)(+65 6403 5666)(Reuters Messaging: charmian.kok.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved.

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