Singapore shares rise ahead of US-China meeting; STI up 0.1%

[SINGAPORE] US President Donald Trump’s upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping sparked hope that a cooling of trade tensions between the economic superpowers would ensue, leading to a rally in Asian markets including Singapore on Friday (Oct 24).

Trade conflicts between Washington and Beijing have been escalating after the world’s two largest economies announced retaliatory measures such as port fees against each other, causing jitters in the securities markets.

The announcement of the leaders’ talks next week on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit supported gains across Asia, noted private banking and asset management group LGT.

Singapore counters closed higher in tandem with gains in regional bourses, with the blue-chip Straits Times Index (STI) adding 5.94 points or 0.1 per cent to finish at 4,422.21. The STI clocked a 2.2 per cent rise over the week.

China-based Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was the top STI performer, closing 3.9 per cent or S$0.13 higher at S$3.47.

ST Engineering also rose, by 1.2 per cent or S$0.10 to S$8.58. This was after the defence and engineering group on Thursday announced that it had secured S$4.9 billion in new contracts in the third quarter of 2025.

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Its total contract wins amounted to S$14 billion for the three quarters this year.

Across the broader market, gainers beat decliners 369 to 166, with 1.6 billion securities worth S$1.4 billion transacted.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was 1.4 per cent higher, South Korea’s Kospi index jumped 2.5 per cent, and the Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.7 per cent.