A FIRMING oil price helped bring offshore and marine stocks into play on Wednesday as the Straits Times Index chalked up a fifth successive rise in modest volume of 1.7 billion units worth S$1.05 billion.

A marginally firm session for the Dow futures most of the day helped keep sentiment positive, with the broad market recording 251 rises versus 159 falls, excluding warrants. The STI, however, weakened in the final minutes in tandem with a reversal in the Dow futures. It closed at 2,862.38, a net gain of 14.29 points for the day.

The actives list featured the likes of Ezra, Ezion, Loyz Energy, Cosco, Vallianz, Vard and AusGroup - all companies connected to the shipping and oil industries. Among index stocks, gains in the three banks were pivotal in pushing up the STI, bringing its five-day gain to 72 points or 2.6 per cent.