Singapore stocks climb on Friday to end volatile week

SINGAPORE – Robust gains on Wall Street overnight and a regional rally helped local shares head into the weekend on a positive note on Friday after a turbulent few days.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) climbed 0.9 per cent or 27.74 points to close at 3,183.28, allowing it to end the week 0.2 per cent ahead.

Gainers outnumbered losers 307 to 233 across the broader market after 2.3 billion shares worth $1.9 billion were traded.

CapitaLand Investment was the top STI gainer, rising 2.6 per cent to close at $3.56.

Emperador was at the other end of the performance scale, slipping 1.9 per cent to 51 cents.

The local banks had a mixed session: DBS closed unchanged at $32.55; UOB rose 1.9 per cent; and OCBC added 0.9 per cent.

Sats was the top index gainer for the week, rising 7 per cent over the five trading days, while Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was the worst, falling 6.9 per cent.

Most markets in the region closed higher, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, where major US indexes bounced back on news of a

major bank capital injection for the embattled First Republic Bank.

IG market analyst Yeap Jun Rong said that easing concerns over a wider meltdown were at play, with gold prices also stagnating following a surge in the past week.

“But the absence of a wider bearish move (in gold) suggests that the risk environment is still treading on some cautious optimism while dovish rate expectations also remain supportive of the yellow metal,” he added.

The Shanghai Composite Index and South Korea’s Kospi both rose 0.7 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 1.2 per cent, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong ended the day 1.6 per cent higher.

Australian shares added 0.4 per cent but the bourse was down 2.1 per cent for the week, its worst weekly showing in six months.

THE BUSINESS TIMES