Singapore shares jump 1.5% as novel coronavirus fears ease

THE region's equity markets continued to bounce back from their early-week losses as investors focused on picking up from Wall Street's lead, and fears about the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has been named Covid-19, faded.

"Asian equities traded bid (on Wednesday) after a chorus of 'keep calm buy stocks' was heard echoing across dealing rooms in Asia after China noted additional cases and deaths related to the virus declined," remarked AxiCorp chief market strategist Stephen Innes.

Investor sentiment was also lifted by hopes of further stimulus, CMC Markets' analyst Margaret Yang noted.

She said: "Despite coronavirus concerns, investors tend to believe that central banks and policymakers have measures to stimulate the economy during and post the public health crisis."

In Singapore, investors were in an especially buoyant mood, sending the Straits Times Index to finish 47.80 points or 1.5 per cent higher at 3,223.37 on Wednesday, its best single day jump all year. None of the benchmark's 30 counters closed in the red.

Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific, Australia, China, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan all ended with gains but they paled in comparison to that of the city-state's blue-chip index. On the other hand, Malaysia was lower.

Taiwan's Taiex Index was the best performing of the group, adding 110.15 points or 0.9 per cent to close at 11,774.19.

Across the broader Singapore market, trading volume stood at 1.90 billion securities, 60 per cent more than the 2019 daily average. Total turnover was S$1.66 billion, 56 per cent over last year's intraday mean. Advancers trumped decliners 297 to 128.

The local banks had a strong session. DBS Group Holdings closed S$0.33 or 1.3 per cent higher at S$25.42, OCBC Bank leapt S$0.25 or 2.3 per cent to S$11.02 while United Overseas Bank finished at S$26.18, up S$0.40 or 1.6 per cent.

ST Engineering shares built on their recent uptrend, advancing S$0.05 or 1.2 per cent to S$4.25 after signing a slew of deals on the sidelines of the Singapore Airshow. Shares in the integrated engineering group are up 3.4 per cent this week.

Singapore-focused property developers had their best session since last Friday's announcement by the government that they can apply to be exempted from the Qualifying Certificate. City Developments jumped S$0.41 or 3.8 per cent to S$11.26 while UOL climbed S$0.08 or 1 per cent to S$8.25.

First Sponsor Group edged up S$0.01 or 0.8 per cent to S$1.34 after posting a 63 per cent jump in fourth-quarter profit to S$94.9 million. 

In line with the risk-friendly session, oil prices rose as concerns over falling Chinese demand faded.

Oil proxies ended the day up. GSS Energy gained 1.5 Singapore cents or 17.1 per cent to 10.3 cents, AusGroup closed up 0.2 Singapore cent or 5.1 per cent to 4.1 cents while Rex International rose 0.4 Singapore cent or 2.4 per cent to 17.4 cents.