Singapore stocks rise with Wall Street rally, STI up 0.2%

SINGAPORE – A modest rebound on Wall Street overnight after big falls the previous day was just the trigger battered local investors needed to nudge shares higher on Thursday.

The rise here was modest to say the least, but the lift in the Straits Times Index by 7.71 points or 0.2 per cent to 3,155.1 was keenly welcomed after days of battering, with gainers outpacing losers 333 to 209 on trade of 1.1 billion shares worth $746.3 million.

Wall Street’s relief rally came after a slight fall in Treasury yields, with investment bank Saxo’s Apac strategy team noting that the bond sell-off from Tuesday saw some respite after United States jobs data signalled that the country’s booming labour market may be cooling.

“The pause in the surge in bond yields helped stocks to find their feet and rally, led by consumer discretionary and information tech,” they added.

The calmer market in New York ahead of upcoming jobs data on Friday boosted the S&P 500 by 0.8 per cent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average put on 0.4 per cent and the tech-focused Nasdaq added 1.4 per cent.

Regional indexes largely followed suit: Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 1.8 per cent, the Hang Seng was up 0.1 per cent, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 broke a three-day losing streak to close 0.5 per cent ahead – its biggest one-day rise in almost three weeks.

South Korea’s Kospi went the other way, falling 0.1 per cent, while Malaysian shares were virtually flat, slipping 0.02 per cent.

The STI’s top gainer was City Developments, which rose 1.6 per cent to $6.53, but fellow property developer Hongkong Land was the biggest loser, declining 2 per cent to end the day at US$3.40.

The trio of local banks were in the black. DBS Bank ticked up 0.2 per cent to $33.27, UOB climbed 0.3 per cent to $28.16, and OCBC Bank gained 0.8 per cent to $12.75.

THE BUSINESS TIMES