Singapore shares rise after overnight Wall Street gains
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On the local bourse, gainers outnumbered losers 309 to 199, after 867 million securities worth $743 million changed hands.
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
Tan Nai Lun
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SINGAPORE - Robust gains on Wall Street overnight
The festive cheer sent the Straits Times Index (STI) up 0.41 per cent, or 13.34 points, to close at 3,269.53. But volumes were lacklustre: just 867 million securities worth $743 million changed hands. Gainers outnumbered losers 309 to 199.
Key indices elsewhere in the region were also up after a strong performance by the three key Wall Street exchanges, which saw increases of around 1.5 per cent.
Gains were led by the Hang Seng Index, which rose 2.7 per cent, followed by the Kospi, up 1.2 per cent. Malaysian shares gained 0.4 per cent, while the Nikkei 225 was up 0.5 per cent. Australian stocks also rose 0.5 per cent after falling to a 20-day low earlier in the week.
Mr Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said: “Asian stocks picked up where the US market left off, with technology and property companies leading the charge, after a profusion of comments from regulators on supporting broader markets.”
He added that policymakers in China were taking steps to ensure funding for major private property developers, while regulatory guidance was also helping platform companies drive employment.
“Offering support for the private sector is more critical from a market perspective, than for a near-term economic growth outlook,” said Mr Innes.
The leading gainer on the STI was Keppel Corp, which added 1.5 per cent to $7.40, while the top decliner was Hongkong Land, falling 1.7 per cent to US$4.66.
Across the broader market, Sembcorp Marine was the top-traded counter by volume, with 64.9 million shares traded. It ended 0.7 per cent higher at 14 cents.
The trio of local banks also closed higher, led by OCBC Bank, which rose 0.6 per cent to $12.31. UOB was up 0.5 per cent to $31.16, while DBS Group Holdings gained 0.2 per cent to $34.27. THE BUSINESS TIMES
