Singapore stocks continue rally, mirroring regional indexes; STI up 0.5%
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The benchmark STI gained 26.42 points to finish at 4,960.83.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
Benjamin Cher
- Singapore's Straits Times Index gained 0.5% on Feb 9, ending at 4,960.83. Gainers outnumbered losers, with 1.3 billion securities traded worth $2.4 billion.
- ST Engineering surged 4.1%, boosting the STI, while DBS fell 1.9% after missed forecasts. Regional indexes in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia also rose.
- Interactive Brokers' Jose Torres noted investors are buying the dip and focusing on firm profit growth, creating opportunities for value hunters despite Amazon's earnings.
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SINGAPORE - Singapore stocks ended higher on Feb 9, tracking regional indexes.
The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) gained 0.5 per cent, or 26.42 points, to finish at 4,960.83. Meanwhile, the iEdge Singapore Next 50 Index lost 0.6 per cent, or 8.32 points, to end at 1,493.28.
Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 432 to 165 after 1.3 billion securities worth $2.4 billion changed hands.
Key regional indexes were in positive territory. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 1.8 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 3.9 per cent, South Korea’s Kospi was up 4.1 per cent, and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI advanced 1.1 per cent.
The STI was buoyed by its top gainer, ST Engineering, which rose 4.1 per cent or 40 cents to end at $10.11.
All but three of the STI’s 30 constituents posted gains at the end of trading on Feb 9. Frasers Centrepoint Trust and Frasers Logistics and Commercial Trust closed flat.
DBS Bank, meanwhile, fell 1.9 per cent or $1.11 to close at $58.19, after its fourth-quarter results missed forecasts.
OCBC Bank rose 0.7 per cent or 15 cents to $21.38, and UOB was up 0.5 per cent or 20 cents at $38.70.
The best performer on the iEdge Singapore Next 50 was Frencken, which rose 6.6 per cent or 11 cents to close at $1.78. The index’s worst performer was ParkwayLife Reit, which fell 1.2 per cent or five cents to $4.03.
Investors were buying the dip on Feb 6, said Mr Jose Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers. This, he added, drove the Dow Jones Industrial Average to fresh highs.
Despite a disappointing earnings call by Amazon on Feb 5, investors are increasingly focused on overall profit growth, which has been firm.
“Meanwhile, basement animal spirits are offering value hunters opportunities to accumulate shares amid a general sense on Wall Street that the selling has gone too far,” said Mr Torres. THE BUSINESS TIMES
