Singapore stocks rise, tracking regional gains

SINGAPORE - Singapore shares finished in the black on April 2, with the blue-chip barometer, the Straits Times Index (STI), up 0.4 per cent or 12.83 points to 3,247.72.

On the wider Singapore Exchange, gainers outnumbered losers 332 to 247 with 2.15 billion securities worth $1.04 billion traded.

Regional peers also rose. Japan’s Nikkei 225 ticked up 0.1 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi Composite Index added 0.2 per cent. The Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index ended 0.3 per cent higher.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped 2.4 per cent after returning from its Easter break.

This was despite US indexes showing a mixed performance after the Institute of Supply Management manufacturing survey came in at 50.3 for March. The 50-point mark separates growth from contraction.

Saxo’s Asia-Pacific strategy team said in a note that the “hotter-than-expected” data “reignited doubts about the extent to which the Fed can ease policy rates”.

The STI’s top gainer was agribusiness Wilmar International, which closed up 2.3 per cent at $3.51.

Shipbuilding company Seatrium partially reversed its April 1 gains to fall 3.4 per cent to $0.084.

Outside the STI, shares of Best World International closed up 4.1 per cent at $2.27. The beauty product distributor’s counter has risen steadily from its March 22 close of $1.77, after it announced

plans to delist through a selective capital reduction.

A requisition notice from its shareholders to table resolutions at the next general meeting was also withdrawn, the group said on April 2.

As for the three local banks, DBS Bank added 0.8 per cent to $36.20, OCBC Bank rose 0.6 per cent to $13.64, and UOB gained 0.7 per cent to $29.66.

THE BUSINESS TIMES