Singapore shares up 0.2% amid mixed regional showing

SINGAPORE – Local shares edged up on July 3 amid a mixed showing by regional bourses and a record-breaking one on Wall Street overnight.

Investors here were keen to keep the party going after the 4,000-point breakthrough on July 2 and nudged the Straits Times Index up 8.8 points or 0.2 per cent to 4,019.57.

Losers put up a better fight than in the previous session but still trailed gainers 215 to 277 on solid trade of 1.6 billion securities worth $1.2 billion.

While there is a nervous wait on new US job figures, there was optimism here stemming from news that Vietnam became the first Asian country to secure a trade deal with the US, although it still faces some hefty levies.

Only three countries have made trade pacts with the US, so investors are wary of more market turmoil if no deals are made by the July 9 deadline that could trigger crippling new tariffs.

Meanwhile, Oiltek International rose 5.4 per cent to 59 cents after the vegetable and edible oil processing company announced that it is in talks to support a sustainable aviation fuel pilot plant programme in Sarawak, although no definitive agreements have been signed.

CapAllianz has been the most active counter this week. It finished flat at 0.003 cents, with 576.2 million shares traded.

The Catalist-listed investment holding firm – which owns a tech company and 20 per cent stakes in oil concessions – staged a boardroom clear-out recently.

Regional markets had another mixed day. The Nikkei in Toyko rose 0.06 per cent while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong slumped by the same amount. Seoul’s Kospi surged 1.34 per cent but Malaysian stocks declined 0.08 per cent.

Australia’s bourse closed a tad down on its record high on July 2 as investors await those US job figures.

Wall Street, by contrast, was in expansion mode overnight with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hitting new records although Dow Industrials dropped 0.02 per cent. THE BUSINESS TIMES