Market steady on bank stocks' rebound and rise in Dow futures

LARGE rebounds in the three bank stocks and a firm day for the Dow futures on Tuesday helped the Straits Times Index (STI) post a 9.18 points rise to 3,257.52. The broad market followed with 248 rises versus 186 falls, excluding warrants, but turnover was below average at 1.9 billion units worth S$999.4 million.

Within the index, it were gains for DBS Bank, UOB and OCBC Bank that stood out, their combined rises adding eight points to the STI. Also firm were shares of Jardine Cycle & Carriage, Singapore Exchange and Singapore Telecommunications. No specific reasons could be found for the rebound, other than short covering ahead of an expected rise on Wall Street, possibly in anticipation of a dovish statement by the US Federal Reserve after its latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting ends on Thursday.

Over in the UK, the political cloud that has hung over the country since last week's general election remains in place as incumbent Prime Minister Theresa May struggles to form a majority coalition. Of the top-20 most active stocks, the best performer was Noble Group, which jumped S$0.030 or 10.2 per cent to S$0.325 on volume of 26.7 million. Other actives included Spackman and Golden-Agri Resources.