Singapore shares up as election campaigning gets underway

SINGAPORE shares ended Wednesday on a firmer note, but trading interest was light, with some brokers spending their time following the various "live coverages" of the campaigning for the general election here.

In all, 191 candidates from 11 political parties and an independent candidate will contest in Singapore's 13th General Election since independence. Market sentiment was also boosted by signs that China's factories are slowly gathering steam, with the Caixin/Markit manufacturing PMI rising to 51.2, compared with expectations for 50.5. "This also marks a six-month high for the reading, sustaining the recovery trend and injecting further optimism for the market," said Pan Jingyi, a market strategist at IG.

The Straits Times Index (STI) opened at 2,604.08 and hit an intraday high of 2,619.35, before it settled at 2,610.17, up 20.26 points, or 0.78 per cent. Close to 1.7 billion securities, worth S$840.83 million, were traded. There were 242 gainers to 133 losers.