STI up slightly by 0.55% but ends the week down

Local shares ended the week lower after see-sawing through election news and continued fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections.

Yesterday's trade was marked by unusually high turnover - 5.45 billion shares changed hands - although most of the activity appeared to be centred on penny stocks, as securities traded came up to just $986.64 million in all.

The frenzied trading left the Straits Times Index up 14.36 points or 0.55 per cent to 2,604.51, but down 1.15 per cent for the week.

The top three most active counters were penny stocks. Abalone producer Oceanus closed flat at 0.4 cent with 3.5 billion shares changing hands as a new investor entity led by Alacrity Investment Group acquired a significant stake through a married deal with Oceanus creditor Ocean Wonder International.

Disclosures to the Singapore Exchange (SGX) showed Alacrity beefing up its investment from 7.2 per cent to 14.54 per cent for a consideration of $3.2 million.

Marine logistics group Marco Polo Marine added 15.39 per cent to 1.5 cents, with 107.9 million shares changing hands. This came on news of group chief executive Sean Lee boosting his stake from 4.59 per cent to 4.71 per cent via two separate market transactions this week.

Air-conditioning contractor Progen added 182.35 per cent to 4.8 cents, earning it an SGX query. About 95 million shares were done.

The best performer was agribusiness group Wilmar International, riding on optimism that the spin-off of its Chinese unit on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange will go through this year. It added 2.21 per cent to $4.17.

Regional markets mostly finished higher, except for the Hang Seng, which fell 0.93 per cent, and Kuala Lumpur, down 0.07 per cent.

Japan's Nikkei gained 1 per cent as investors took heart from United States rallies despite a spike in coronavirus cases. Similarly, South Korea tracked Wall Street gains, with the Kospi finishing 1.05 per cent up.

In Australia, stocks added 1.5 per cent as the prime minister said he would stick with plans to further ease coronavirus curbs.

"Governments and central banks continue to shield equities from the bad news on fresh spikes in coronavirus and evidence of the economic damage wrought by the pandemic," said brokerage AJ Bell's investment director Russ Mould.

"That explains a strong end to the week for the FTSE 100, which is up more than 1 per cent. The question is how long fiscal and monetary largesse can keep the rally going."