A positive lead from Chinese equities following news that the government is pumping in money to stem the recent market rout helped lift Singapore shares yesterday.
Also helping are easing concerns over Greece after its Parliament approved a slew of austerity measures, a move supported by the German Parliament.
The key benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) rose 20.03 points to 3,373.48, with 1.86 billion shares worth $1 billion traded.
"It's a relief rebound, thanks to the 3 trillion-plus yuan (S$660 billion-plus) market-stabilisation fund," a remisier said.
China Securities Finance Corp (CSFC), a government agency, has between 2.5 trillion and 3 trillion yuan on tap to support stocks. These funds will likely be used to offer liquidity support to brokerages and to buy stocks and mutual funds.
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Markets Highlights
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1. Good news is bad for gold. With more positive news for the US economy, higher interest rates look all but inevitable. China said it held less of the metal in reserves than some analysts forecast. That was the catalyst for the commodity to fall to as low as US$1,086.18 per ounce.
2. Higher interest rates also are a dampener on commodities.
The Bloomberg Commodity Index has been declining. Apart from gold, Brent crude is also sliding while the US dollar is strengthening.
3. Sinarmas Land said that it is buying a freehold office asset for £258.7 million (S$552 million).
Net lettable area is about 248,350 sq ft and the building is located in the eastern part of London.
4. Jardine Cycle & Carriage, which was raising funds from a rights issue, said that the issue was oversubscribed.
It was offering one rights share for every nine held at $26 per rights share, to raise around $1 billion, partly to repay loans.
5. Stratech Group which supplies technology-based surveillance and transportation systems was set to exit the Singapore Exchange's watchlist from yesterday, a move that should give it a fresh lease of life with investors.
