Singapore stocks close higher on news from Greece
News that the Greek parliament has voted to accept the bailout terms from the country's creditors lifted the Straits Times Index 14.59 points to 3,353.45 on Thursday. Turnover, however, remained in the doldrums at 1.1 billion units worth S$918.6 million, of which S$621 million or 68 per cent was done in the 30 STI components. Still, excluding warrants, there were 235 rises versus 145 falls, so the session was relatively firm for the whole market.
Counterbalancing news from Greece was high volatility in Hong Kong, where the Hang Seng Index first suffered a triple-digit loss before closing with a triple-digit gain.
Also a factor was the Wednesday testimony by US Federal Reserve chairperson Janey Yellen that the US economy remains strong, suggesting interest rates would be raised this year.
Petrochemical firm CEFC International continued to outperform, rising S$0.016 or 19 per cent to S$0.10 on volume of 77 million, the latter ensuring it topped the actives list. On Monday, the counter traded at S$0.034, which means it has gained 194 per cent in four sessions.
Other than Singtel, all other occupants of the top 20 actives list were priced below S$0.70. These included familiar names such as IHC, YuuZoo and Charisma Energy.
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