Firm oil, US rally help STI bounce 1.7%

A RISE in oil prices and an overnight rally on Wall Street helped the Straits Times Index gain 43.78 points or 1.7 per cent to 2,657.57 on Thursday. Turnover was a robust 1.2 billion units worth S$1.3 billion and excluding warrants, there were 278 rises versus 110 falls.

The index, however, closed off its intraday high after Dow futures, which traded in the black for most of the day, slipped into the red in the late afternoon.

Of the dollar volume traded, S$954.3 million or 73 per cent was done in the 30 index components. The most active STI member was Noble Group, which jumped S$0.04 or almost 12 per cent to S$0.375 on volume of 136 milli…