STI gets surprise boost from Genting

TRADERS have become accustomed to the banks driving the Straits Times Index (STI) so it probably came as a surprise that on Monday, the role of prime index mover was assumed by Genting Singapore, its S$0.07 or 6.5 per cent jump to S$1.15 on volume of 71.7 million accounting for slightly more than half of the STI's gain of 8.92 points at 3,264.21.

However, unfamiliar though the sight of Genting driving the index might be, what was familiar was that the broad market did not mirror the STI's strength - excluding warrants, there were only 202 rises versus 271 falls throughout. Turnover, in the meantime, was a decent 2.8 billion units worth S$1.4 billion.

Providing the external backdrop to the day's trading were strong rises in Hong Kong and the Dow futures, the former gaining for the sixth consecutive session and reaching a new 21-month high. No specific reasons could be found for these rises.