Bulls And Bears

STI pushed up in part by 'Trump rally'

Gains by Keppel Corp and property counters also give local bourse a boost

Singapore shares edged higher yesterday, thanks in part to the so-called "Trump rally" on Wall Street.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 0.8 per cent overnight to pass 20,000 points for the first time on hopes for faster United States growth.

Investors here responded by sending the Straits Times Index up 0.39 per cent, or 11.84 points, to 3,051.78. Local stocks were driven by gains in Keppel Corp and property counters in anticipation of fund managers repositioning their portfolios if warehouse operator Global Logistic Properties (GLP) is acquired, DBS Group Research said.

Traders have been speculating about a GLP takeover since last November while the firm said earlier this month that it is in preliminary discussions with various parties.

The talk helped push developer CDL up 2.3 per cent or 21 cents to $9.17 while UOL rose 0.9 per cent or six cents to $6.51. CapitaLand gained 1.9 per cent or six cents to $3.27.

Keppel rose 1.9 per cent or 12 cents to $6.39, ahead of fourth-quarter earnings released after market close yesterday.

Net profit fell 64.7 per cent to $143 million while revenue dropped 22 per cent to $1.94 billion.

Yesterday's most actively traded counters included Equation Summit, which plunged 21.9 per cent or 0.7 cent to 2.5 cents, with 508.1 million shares traded. This came after its subsidiary Disa Digital Safety retracted an announcement on the roll-out of its digital lock technology at all of retail giant Walmart's stores in America. Equation said it regrets the release of the announcement without Walmart's consent.

Thai Beverage was another active, ending flat at 84.5 cents on trade of 49.8 million shares.

"With advertising efforts likely to resume this year, operating conditions should gradually recover for the company," according to OCBC Investment Research.

Other actively traded counters included Artivision Tech, which surged 18.8 per cent or 0.3 cent to 1.9 cents, with 130.8 million shares traded, and Noble Group, which was flat at 17.2 cents with 74.5 million shares changing hands.

Sen Yue Holdings, formerly known as PNE Micron, gained 6.9 per cent or 0.2 cent to 3.1 cents, with 35.3 million shares traded.

Sheng Siong shares jumped 0.5 per cent or 0.5 cent to 93 cents, after UOB KayHian upgraded its call to buy from hold, noting that smaller supermarkets have driven up prices for HDB commercial units. "If smaller players are unable to keep up with the high rent, big players (like Sheng Siong) may have an opportunity to secure units at more reasonable rates," the broker said.

Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation fell nine cents to $1.675 after fourth-quarter profit tumbled 93 per cent on lower fair value gains on data centre investment properties and a smaller profit share from associates.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on January 27, 2017, with the headline STI pushed up in part by 'Trump rally'. Subscribe