Singapore stocks rise on Wednesday, tracking Wall Street gains; STI up 0.6%

SINGAPORE – Investors took note of the solid gains on Wall Street overnight and drove the local market well into positive territory on Wednesday.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) gained 0.6 per cent, or 20.98 points, to 3,275.24, but losers outnumbered gainers 295 to 283 across the wider market on trade of 1.3 billion securities worth $1.1 billion.

IG market analyst Yeap Jun Rong said stocks in Asia likely took their cue from the positive handover from Wall Street, which rallied amid better-than-expected earnings results from major United States banks, with some catch-up gains in the value sectors.

The optimism sent the S&P 500 up 0.7 per cent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average put on 1.1 per cent – its seventh straight day of gains – and the Nasdaq advanced 0.8 per cent and is now 37 per cent up so far in 2023.

Mr Yeap also noted that market sentiment is favouring a worst-is-over stance and pricing for a recovery in coming quarters.

“A divergence in performance was seen in Chinese equities, however, with the lacklustre read in China’s economic conditions lately keeping investors shunning for now,” he added.

Key indexes in the region were mixed. The Nikkei rose 1.2 per cent, the Kospi inched up 0.02 per cent and Australian shares climbed 0.5 per cent to a four-week high, but the Hang Seng fell 0.3 per cent and the Malaysian Bursa lost 0.2 per cent.

UOB was the STI’s largest gainer on Wednesday, rising 3.4 per cent to $28.64. The lender will be the first among the trio of local banks to report its second-quarter earnings on July 27.

The other local lenders also ended the day higher: DBS Bank gained 0.7 per cent to close at $32.74 while OCBC Bank rose 1.6 per cent to $12.67.

The STI’s biggest loser was DFI Retail Group, which lost 2.1 per cent to US$2.86.

THE BUSINESS TIMES