Asian equity markets were in a cheery mood after reports indicated that the final details of the United States-China "phase one" trade deal could be ironed out later this month.
With markets preoccupied with developments on this front, it did not surprise that investor appetite for risk assets picked up.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index (STI) saw broad gains, regaining Wednesday's losses to end the trading session at 3,174.19, an advance of 14.4 points or 0.5 per cent.
Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific, benchmark indexes fared similarly well with Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan all posting gains. Swimming against the tide was South Korea, which ended lower.
When US President Donald Trump said a trade deal may only be signed after next year's presidential election, it triggered equity sell-offs, which left Oanda Asia-Pacific senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley wondering on Wednesday if Mr Trump referred to a mini or comprehensive deal.
"He appears to have been referring to the latter, as persons 'close to the talks' said that talks on an interim trade agreement with China were on the home straight," Mr Halley said yesterday.
The STI trading volume stood at 915.62 million securities, 79 per cent of the daily average in the first 10 months of this year. Meanwhile, total turnover clocked in at $965.91 million, 92 per cent of the January-to-October daily average. Across the market, advancers trumped decliners 216 to 145. Of the STI's 30 counters, four were in the loss column.
Golden Agri-Resources continued to see heavy trading since being dropped from the MSCI Singapore Index. With 83.2 million shares traded, the agribusiness firm was the STI's most active counter. It gained 7 per cent to 23 cents.
Among real estate investment trusts (Reits), Manulife US Reit edged up 1 per cent to close at US$0.98 after announcing that it will be included in the FTSE EPRA Nareit Index from Dec 23.
With its inclusion in the real estate index, Manulife US Reit units are likely to see higher trading liquidity and visibility as institutional investors and fund managers will be placing more attention on the US-focused office property play.
Meanwhile, Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust's units dipped 0.9 per cent to $1.15 after it announced the purchase of a 98.5 per cent stake in two Tokyo office properties from its sponsor for $482.5 million.
