Singapore stocks rebound, pushing STI up 33 points

Local stocks took their cue from Wall Street's overnight rebound and edged higher over the course of the session yesterday after opening in positive territory.

Investors' breezier mood sent the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) up 1.04 per cent or 32.72 points to 3,187.78, with gainers outpacing losers 273 to 203 on trade of 1.41 billion shares worth $1.24 billion. The STI's top performer was ComfortDelGro, which was up 2.29 per cent at $1.79. E-commerce platform Lazada and ComfortDelGro have announced a partnership that allows shoppers to book ComfortDelGro taxis using the Lazada app.

The Mapletree trio also rose - Mapletree Commercial Trust, up 1.43 per cent at $2.13; Mapletree Industrial Trust, up 0.72 per cent at $2.79; and Mapletree Logistics Trust, up 0.51 per cent at $1.97.

Bloomberg reported yesterday that Mapletree Investments was exploring listing a student housing real estate investment trust (Reit) here that could raise about US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion). An initial public offer could take place as soon as next year, the report cited sources as saying.

Jardine Matheson Holdings (JMH) and Singtel were the STI's biggest decliners. JMH fell 0.61 per cent to US$63.94 while Singtel ended 0.39 per cent down at $2.53.

Asian markets also clawed back losses yesterday. The Nikkei 225 Index snapped its two-day losing streak to end 2.38 per cent higher while the benchmark Kospi edged up 0.18 per cent in Seoul and the Hang Seng gained 0.47 per cent.

Mr Jeffrey Halley, Oanda senior market analyst for Asia-Pacific, said that stock markets "continue to chop back (and) forth on whichever speculative momentum and sentiment is more powerful on the day". "A lack of clear new drivers has played its part with a lot of good news priced into equity valuation globally. Nerves that Covid-19 may linger for longer and vaccine effectiveness temper a buy-everything rally that is looking a little tired."