Singapore shares up 0.1%, buoyed by regional sentiment and domestic policy support
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Across the broader market, gainers beat decliners 355 to 244 amid a high trading volume of 2.2 billion shares with a total transaction value of $1.7 billion.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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SINGAPORE – The blue-chip barometer Straits Times Index (STI) inched up 0.1 per cent, or four points, to 4,269.98 points on Sept 29, buoyed by a confluence of domestic policy support and positive regional sentiment.
Across the broader market, gainers beat decliners 355 to 244 amid a high trading volume of 2.2 billion shares, with a total transaction value of $1.7 billion.
Phillip Nova senior market analyst Priyanka Sachdeva pointed out that the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s $5 billion equity market programme – alongside tax and listings incentives – continues to act as a confidence anchor, encouraging asset managers to rotate capital into local stocks.
“The surge in trading volumes past the two-billion mark reflects investors’ confidence in Singapore’s stability and growth, with softer returns from fixed-income assets nudging more funds into equities,” she said.
“At the same time, investors are receiving tailwinds from broader Asia-Pacific markets, where risk appetite is improving on easing fears of a global slowdown and more stable United States rate expectations.”
However, shares of Singtel closed 14 cents, or 3.3 per cent, lower at $4.12 after its Australian subsidiary Optus encountered another outage at the weekend, making it the worst STI performer.
On Sept 28, the unit suffered an outage that affected some 4,500 customers and disrupted calls made between 3am and 12.20pm – including emergency calls. This latest outage comes as a Singtel delegation is set to meet Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells this week to discuss the fallout from an earlier Optus outage on Sept 18.
Shares of Addvalue Technologies, meanwhile, clocked a 0.3 cent, or 10.7 per cent, increase to 3.1 cents after it announced on Sept 26 some US$3 million (S$3.87 million) in orders secured, bringing its order book to US$18.1 million. The communications technology products developer, which is on the watch list for having logged three straight years of pre-tax losses, was the most actively traded stock with 198.9 million shares changing hands.
The Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.9 per cent up, South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.3 per cent, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index finished trading 0.9 per cent higher. THE BUSINESS TIMES
