UPDATE 1-Singapore Air rises after Q4 earnings beat forecasts

(Updates with details, analysts comments, briefing details)

SINGAPORE, May 14 (Reuters) - Shares of Singapore Airlines (SIA) (SIAL.SI) rose in early trading on Wednesday, a day after it reported quarterly profit fell a smaller-than-expected 21 percent. [ID:nSIN214030]

Analysts said better passenger yields and effective fuel hedging helped offset the record price of jet fuel in the period, but kept their forecasts on review as SIA warned that turmoil in global financial markets clouded the outlook for air travel.

"While SIA has a robust balance sheet to weather turbulent times, we see the risk of earnings disappointment increasing, which could dampen share performance," Goldman Sachs analyst Tom Kim said in a note on Wednesday.

Singapore Airlines, the world's second-biggest airline by market value, rose 1.8 percent in early trade and was trading 1 percent higher by 0210 GMT. The Straits Times Index .FTSTI was 0.1 percent higher.

The airline's January-March net profit was S$527.5 million ($386 million) compared with S$671 million a year ago. It beat an average forecast of S$364 million from 11 analysts polled by Reuters.

Analysts expected persistently high fuel costs to affect SIA's earnings as benchmark Asian jet fuel prices JET-SIN hit a new record on Tuesday and are up about 44 percent since the start of the year, reflecting the rise in global oil prices.

"Spot jet fuel since March surged another 24 percent to $160 per barrel, suggesting earnings pain ahead," said Citi analyst Robert Kong, who had a "sell" rating on the stock.

But Deutsche Bank analyst Joe Liew expected that most of the negative news related to high oil prices had been priced in, and recommended that investors buy the stock.

"Should corporate travel continue to be resilient, we believe this stock has the potential to surprise the market on the upside," Liew said in a client note.

Singapore Airlines' management will hold a media and analyst briefing on its results at 4 p.m. (0800 GMT) on Wednesday. ($1=1.37 Singapore Dollar)

(Editing by Jacqueline Wong)