Pressure on Thistle Hotels owners

The steady increase in his position in BIL International, which was two cents or 2.5% higher today at 81 cents, has reignited hopes that Oei may launch a takeover bid.

Such a move would delight holders of BIL shares, which have languished despite its £627m swoop earlier this year on Thistle. Intriguingly, it would also pit the flamboyant Oei, a legendary trader in local markets, against BIL's controlling shareholder, fellow tycoon Quek Leng Chan.

The cat-and-mouse game dates from last year, when Quek's lead investment vehicle Camerlin said it had been approached by a mystery party that expressed interest in its own 22.3% stake in BIL.

Nothing came of the talks, but some suggested that Oei could have been behind the move. Then in May BIL declared Oei held 6.7% of the company, provoking a sharp spike upwards in its share price. The disclosure came just days after BIL took full control of Thistle.

There followed a rapid-fire series of rival stake purchases by the two sides. Eager to protect his dominant position, Quek pushed his holding in BIL to 29.9% - a fraction below the 30% threshold that would trigger a general offer.

Oei pushed his holding to 8.14%, but then all went quiet until this week. Late yesterday BIL disclosed that Oei had spent about S$10m (£3.6m) to buy nine million more shares over two days, taking his holding to 8.8%.

Oei is about to come into some extra cash. Next month he will receive S$62m in a special dividend from steelmaker NatSteel, in which he holds almost 30%. The wider Singapore market was a touch weaker as profit-taking held sway after a recent run of solid gains.

The Straits Times index eased 3.2 points to 1612.08. State-linked Singapore Telecommunications backtracked two cents or 1.2% to S$1.69. It has risen from S$1.20 since January.

In Tokyo the market posted gains for the eighth session in the past nine, inspired by Wall Street's overnight strength and suggestions that the economic tide may at last be turning in Japan. The Nikkei 225 rose 141.19 points or 1.4% to 10,315.29 before falling back to close at 10,292, a gain of 117.96 points.

The broader Topix index had earlier topped 1000 points for the first time in 13 months, rising 11.1 points or 1.1% to 1001.74.

There was further upside for hi-tech player Hitachi, up 0.7% as brokers' views on the industry brightened. Backed by similar positive sentiment, NEC added 0.5%.

Hong Kong port and property conglomerate Wharf eased 40 cents or 2.3% to HK$16.85 after saying first-half net profits rose by 11%. Analysts said the dip came as the company mixed a regular cash dividend with shares in an affiliate. ING advised investors to buy on any weakness, with a price-pershare target of HK$19.90.

Energy player Sinopec jumped 2.5 cents or 1% to HK$240, a record. The company has tied up a deal with Royal Dutch/Shell to take 30% of a major oil and gas project off China's east coast. The Hang Seng index closed unchanged at 10,509.3.