Value of share buybacks jump 74% to $39m

OCBC bought $21.53m of shares and led the pack for the ninth month.

In November, there were 27.7 million shares repurchased by 22 companies, with a total consideration of $39.4m, the Singapore Exchange (SGX) revealed.

According to SGX's market updates, buyback consideration rose 74% from the $22.6m reported for October and fell 1.5% from last year.

The monthly total buyback consideration in November 2017 was the fourth highest this year, and nearly double that of the previous month.

The five stocks with the largest buyback consideration value last month were OCBC, Silverlake Axis, Sembcorp Marine, Singapore Post and ST Engineering, which made up more than 90% of the $39.4m in total consideration.

For the ninth consecutive month, OCBC maintained the highest buyback value in the month, taking the total number of shares to date purchased on the 12-month mandate to 15.36 million. The bank bought $21.53m worth of shares in November.