Singapore shares post weekly gain of 4% on strong China exports, MAS easing

A LARGE, short-covering bounce on Wednesday that was triggered by China reporting better-than-expected exports for March was followed by a surprise announcement by the Monetary Authority of Singapore which essentially made for a weaker Singapore dollar - these were the highlights of the week in which the Straits Times Index finally moved into the black for the year.

Over the five days the index gained 115 points or 4.1 per cent at 2,923.94, including a 10.01 point rise on Friday which was the index's fourth consecutive uptick for the week. The rise for the year to date now stands at 41 points or 1.4 per cent.

Turnover however, has fluctuated wildly. Tuesday's S$664 million was the lowest in 2016, Wednesday's S$1.4 billion was the highest in a month. On Friday, with traders unsure of how aggressively to go short or long, volume dropped sharply to 942 million units worth S$840 million and excluding warrants the advance-decline score was 203-183.