Singapore shares rose, with Keppel Corp Ltd among the biggest gainers after the world's largest oil rig builder won two contracts worth S$200 million ($161.4 million).
The Straits Times Index was up 0.3 percent at 3,264.29 points, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.6 percent.
Keppel shares rose as much as 1.3 percent to S$11.62 and were among the top traded stocks by value in Singapore on Wednesday.
DBS Vickers estimated full-year order wins of S$6 billion for Keppel and saw potential for more contracts related to floating production storage and offloading (FPSO). DBS maintained its 'buy' rating and target price of S$13 on the stock.
However, shares of offshore vessel builder STX OSV Holdings Ltd fell as much as 4.2 percent to S$1.26, the lowest in nearly two weeks. Close to 14 million shares were traded, 1.8 times the average full-day volume over the past 30 days.
The drop in its share price came after STX OSV posted an 81 percent dip in fourth-quarter net profit at 124 million Norwegian krones ($21.73 million), dragged by lower activity in some yards and a fall in margins.
CIMB Research said that while valuations are "undemanding", a re-rating in the stock price is unlikely given the uncertainty in the company's roadmap with a new set of owners, lacklustre orders and margin pressures.
It cut its target price to S$1.38 from S$1.47 and maintained its 'neutral' rating.
1239 (0439 GMT)
(Reporting by Teo Jion Chun; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee;
teo.jionchun@thomsonreuters.com)(+6564035659)(Reuters Messaging: teo.jionchun.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
