OCBC Investment Research raised its target price for Singapore Technologies Engineering to S$3.50 from S$3.32 and kept its buy rating, citing the company's strong contract wins.

Shares of ST Engineering were 0.3 percent lower at S$3.18, but have gained 18 percent since the start of the year.

ST Engineering said its aerospace arm had secured about $540 million worth of contracts in the first quarter. This lifts the company's total orders to S$1.5 billion for the period, said OCBC.

The broker said ST Engineering's S$880 million contract win from the Royal Navy of Oman should restore investors' confidence in its defence sales, especially after recent problems its unit ST Kinetics had faced in India.

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0937 (0137 GMT)

(Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore; charmian.kok@thomsonreuters.com)