Singapore shares rise as China brings protests under control

WITH the protests in China contained, Asian equities put up a better showing on Tuesday (Nov 29). The Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI), for instance, jumped 1.1 per cent or 36.3 points to 3,276.36 points.

The stocks that were affected by the weekend demonstrations against Covid measures in China on Monday rose in tandem on Tuesday, with news of the unrest being under control.

Among the STI stocks, DFI Retail Group made the most improvement, by 5.06 per cent to US$2.49. Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust clocked a 2.98 per cent increase to S$1.73 and conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings rose 2.77 per cent to US$48.60. These counters all have significant exposure to China, including Hong Kong.

Buoying investor sentiment too was China’s lifting of a ban on property players undertaking capital fundraising, as well as some suggestions that the protests could push the government to exit its zero-Covid policy.

Also, investors shrugged off the hawkish Fedspeak that the United States central bank would not pivot from its interest rate hike soon.

The banking trio benefited from the Fed’s statement though; UOB , OCBC and DBS rose 1.65 per cent, 0.49 per cent and 1.45 per cent respectively to S$30.80, S$12.37 and S$34.95.

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Across the broader market, gainers beat decliners 339 to 203. Turnover stood at 1.1 billion securities worth S$1.27 billion.

Elsewhere in Asia, the Hang Seng Index surged 5.24 per cent to 18,204.68 points, the Shanghai Composite went up 2.31 per cent to 3,149.75 points. FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was, however, one of the few that closed in the red, down 0.64 per cent to 1,476.96 points.