Banks lead STI's rebound of 20.29 points

HAVING plunged almost 47 points on Monday after North Korea's nuclear test over the weekend, the Straits Times Index (STI) on Tuesday rebounded 20.29 points to 3,251.26.

However a 40 point drop in the Dow futures and an indifferent session over in Hong Kong suggested that markets were still very concerned over how the North Korean situation would play out. The low volume of 1.7 billion units worth S$840.1 million traded on Tuesday on the local bourse points to the absence of many players.

Excluding warrants, there were 237 rises versus 174 falls. The average value per unit traded was about S$0.49. Of the 20 most active stocks, 16 cost under S$0.20. Rowsley topped the list, ending S$0.003 higher at S$0.112 on volume of 122.8 million while semiconductor firm Jadason Enterprises' shares were also active, ending S$0.002 firmer at S$0.097 on turnover of 20.3 million.