STI up for 4th consecutive session

AFTER dropping 38 points on Friday last week, the Straits Times Index has now risen for four consecutive sessions, the latest being 15.83 points on Thursday to 3,370.29 as investors anticipated the announcement of a large-scale quantitative easing (QE) programme by the European Central Bank (ECB).

So far this week, the index's total rise has been 70 points or 2.1 per cent, taking it five points or 0.14 per cent up for the year to date. Thursday's turnover was 1.6 billion units worth S$1.3 billion, slightly above last week's daily average of S$1.1 billion. Excluding warrants, the advance-decline score was 295-146.

In the property sector, shares of Keppel Land entered their second day of a trading halt together with parent Keppel Corp. The speculation is that a privatisation of Keppel Land is on the cards; however, some analysts believe the offeror is unlikely to be Keppel Corp.