Shares of Ezra Holdings Ltd rose as much as 3.6 percent after the oil services firm reported a strong rise in quarterly revenue and OCBC Investment Research upgraded its rating.

OCBC raised its recommendation on Ezra to buy from hold and increased its target price to S$1.35 from S$1.28, highlighting that Ezra's shares had declined about 7.5 percent since it downgraded the stock to hold in March.

The broker said Ezra's revenue for its offshore support services and subsea services divisions in the second quarter rose, helped by an expanded vessel fleet.

Ezra's subsea order book has exceeded $1 billion, and CIMB Research said the company has a tender pipeline of $5 billion and some contract wins were expected in the short term.

CIMB kept its outperform rating, but cut its target price to S$1.21 from S$1.25 as weaker margins for the offshore segment hurt its earnings. However, the broker said Ezra's earnings from 2013 onwards will be boosted by stronger subsea business.

Ezra's shares were up 2.7 percent at S$1.15 and have gained 37 percent so far this year.

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1035 (0235 GMT)

(Reporting by Leonard How in Singapore; leonard.how@thomsonreuters.com)