THE Straits Times Index (STI) ended Thursday (Apr 18) at 3,187.66 points, up 1.1 per cent or 32.97 points, in a convincing recovery from war jitters and interest rate fears.

In the broader market, advancers beat decliners 313 to 237 – a comfortable margin. Among the 30 STI counters, 19 ended the day in positive territory.

The biggest advancer was conglomerate Jardine Cycle & Carriage : C07 0%, up S$1.06 or 4.1 per cent. Not far behind were fellow Jardine companies Jardine Matheson Holdings : J36 0% (up 3.2 per cent) and DFI Retail Group Holdings : D01 0% (up 1.7 per cent).

Genting Singapore : G13 0% was the fourth-best performer of the day, up S$0.02 or 2.2 per cent to close at S$0.93. United States-listed Las Vegas Sands on Wednesday reported a 26 per cent increase in operating earnings at Marina Bay Sands (after adjusting for win rates), hitting a record US$520 million.

CGS International analyst Tay Wee Kuang said the results are a “positive sign” for Genting Singapore. “We think Genting Singapore will continue to see positive year-on-year momentum in profitability for H1 2024 due to a low base effect,” he said in a client note dated Apr 18.

The STI’s rebound was broadly mirrored across Asia. The Nikkei 225 ended the day up 0.3 per cent, while the Hang Seng Index was up 0.8 per cent. The Korea Stock Exchange Kospi was the standout performer, up nearly 2 per cent.

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The Thai market was among the few Asian markets to close in negative territory, down 0.6 per cent.