Bulls And Bears
Singapore market up, buoyed by Wall Street's overnight gains
STI rises 0.9%; winners beat losers 264 to 192 * Genting Singapore climbs 2.5% to lead index gainers * Key markets in region higher with exception of China and HK
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Raphael Lim
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Overnight gains on Wall Street fuelled by robust corporate profits spurred traders across the region to send shares higher yesterday.
The buying spree sent the Straits Times Index (STI) up 0.9 per cent or 28.19 points to close at 3,335.32 with gainers outnumbering losers 264 to 192 in the broader market after 2.1 billion shares worth $1.4 billion changed hands.
Genting Singapore led the gains on the STI, with the counter rising 2.5 per cent to close at 81 cents while Keppel DC Reit ended at the bottom of the index performance table after tumbling 5.9 per cent to $2.09. The decline follows a business update on April 19 that showed gross revenue for the first quarter had slipped 0.9 per cent year on year while net property income came in 1.4 per cent lower.
Sembcorp Marine was the most actively traded counter by volume, with the stock falling 3.9 per cent to 12.3 cents, after 473 million shares were traded.
The sharp rises on Wall Street's three key indexes - from 1.5 per cent to 2.2 per cent - on what was their best day for a month, gave heart to regional markets.
Most key indexes ended higher with bourses in Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan climbing between 0.1 and 0.9 per cent.
Records were under threat in Australia where the local market came within a whisker of an all-time high before declines in the mining and energy sectors sent the index down. The bourse still ended a touch in front for the day, adding 0.1 per cent - its sixth best finish in history.
Chinese equities bucked the trend with the Shanghai Composite Index falling 1.3 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.4 per cent.
Mr Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, noted that China had underperformed the rest of Asia, as the People's Bank of China "surprisingly decided against cutting both the one-and five-year loan prime rates".
