trading centre to Singapore flies in the face of a top-secret survey conducted by the company among brokers and fund managers, who condemned the move, the South China Morning Post reported last week.

The paper said it appeared that six months before the group announced its new share trading arrangements, the company polled market players in London, Hong Kong and Singapore, and were told that such a move would risk a rapid cooling off global investor interest, and the Hong Kong broking community would see such an action as "akin to treachery''.

Brokers responding to the survey are also said to have angrily warned the group that they would no longer do research for the company. But the Singapore respondents to the survey were mainly positive. They felt that with the move, Jardine would still be maintaining a presence in Asia.

Fund managers indicated that if none of the companies was listed on a recognised index, they would sell their holdings. The survey was conducted on behalf of the Jardine group by an independent researcher.

Comments also centred on concerns over the liquidity of the stock in Singapore, and the quality of research there, which Hong Kong brokers regard as inferior. The conclusion that Jardine research would then be written by Singapore-based analysts brought more scorn, because many Singaporean houses were said to be controlled by a parent bank.