Singapore Hot Stocks-Parkway Hldgs soars on Malaysia stake buy

SINGAPORE, April 30 (Reuters) - Parkway Holdings surged as much as 8.8 percent after Malaysia's state investment arm Khazanah said it bought a stake in the firm for S$531.5 million ($390.5 million).

Shares of the medical and healthcare services provider hit an intraday high of S$3.70 with over 19 shares million traded.

0629 GMT - Straits Times Index <.FTSTI> steady.

COSCO REBOUNDS AHEAD OF Q1 RESULTS

Shares of Cosco Corp (Singapore) rebounded after strong profits posted by its Hong Kong-listed sister firm COSCO Pacific <1199.hk> raised investors' optimism, dealers said.

The Chinese shipbuilding and repair firm, which will report its first-quarter earnings later on Wednesday, rose as much as 5.2 percent to cancel out losses from the previous day.

Its shares hit an intraday high of S$3.24 with over 15 million shares traded.

"Sentiments have been gyrating lately. Investors expect an improvement quarter-on-quarter but are still worried about high steel costs," a dealer said.

COSCO Pacific, a container leasing firm also controlled by Cosco (Singapore)'s parent China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co, said on Tuesday its first-quarter net profit rose 15.6 percent.

Global steel prices have seen new highs this year but are poised to ease towards the end of 2008, analysts said.

0404 GMT - Straits Times Index <.FTSTI> up 0.33 percent.

CHINA FLEX SLUMPS AFTER PROFIT WARNING

China Flexible Packaging Holdings plunged nearly 13 percent to S$0.335 after the packaging materials maker warned investors that second-quarter profit would fall.

The China-based firm said second-quarter net profit is expected to be lower from a year ago, due to a fall in demand for its products.

High prices for crude oil, which is a key raw material for packaging materials, and more than a month of stoppages in production also contributed to lower earnings for this quarter ending April 30, 2008.

But the firm said it will remain profitable for the full-year 2008.

0121 GMT - Straits Times Index <.FTSTI> down 0.13 percent. (Reporting by Tan Wei Xin; Editing by Jan Dahinten) ((weixin.tan@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6403 5667; Reuters Messaging: weixin.tan.reuters.com@reuters.net))