Banks lead STI to reclaim 2,900 level

WALL Street's bounce last Friday helped push the Straits Times Index up 21.87 points on Monday to 2,900.92, a rise that was led by the three banks. Turnover, however, was a feeble 893 million units worth S$759 million and despite the strong index showing, the broad market's advance-decline score was a very mixed 200 to 199.

The day's most actively traded stock was telecoms counter Ace Achieve Infocom, which jumped S$0.004 or 17.4 per cent to S$0.027 on volume of 45.4 million, drawing a query from the Singapore Exchange (SGX). After Ace had replied in the negative, SGX issued a "trade with caution".

Separately, SGX also issued a "trade with caution" notice on trading in shares of Terratech Group after the latter said over the weekend that it did not know of reasons why its shares rose 120 per cent on Friday. Terratech was the second most active stock on Monday, rising S$0.009 or 19 per cent to S$0.056 on volume of 41.5 million.