STI closes at yet another high in 4th day of rally, ending week up 3.1%

SINGAPORE – Local shares capped a stellar few days by finishing at a 52-week high for the fourth straight session.

It was not a knockout performance on Sept 13, but the Straits Times Index (STI) did manage to add 6.1 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 3,562.65, with gainers outstripping losers 346 to 189 on solid trade of 1.1 billion securities worth $1.4 billion.

The rally over the past four days drove the STI to a gain of 3.1 per cent for the week, leaving it up 10 per cent in 2024 and on track for its best year since 2017.

Gains were led by shipbuilder Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, which added 3.2 per cent to $2.56. The company is in the process of acquiring a 34 per cent stake in Chinese shipbuilder Tsuneishi Group (Zhoushan) Shipbuilding (TZS).

Financial services provider CGS International said there is room for collaboration to improve TZS’ gross margins and earnings contributions to Yangzijiang. CGS has an “add” call on Yangzijiang and a target price of $3.20.

Offshore services provider Dyna-Mac Holdings was among the five most heavily traded stocks.

A unit of South Korea’s Hanwha Corp has made an offer to buy the shares of Dyna-Mac it does not already own for 60 cents apiece. Dyna-Mac has mostly traded above that price, however, and closed at 63 cents on Sept 13, up 1.6 per cent.

Maybank and OCBC Bank analysts have recommended that shareholders reject the offer, as they said the price undervalues the stock.

The heroics here followed a positive session on Wall Street, where confident investors are betting that interest rates will be cut by a quarter-point next week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 0.6 per cent and the S&P 500 gained 0.8 per cent, while the Nasdaq rose 1 per cent.

Australian shares also had a solid day, with the ASX 200 adding 0.3 per cent after hitting a six-week high earlier in the session.

THE BUSINESS TIMES