Singapore stocks finish mixed as banks push STI higher

A QUIET session on Wednesday ended with the Straits Times Index (STI) rising 10.6 points at 3,348.8, thanks mainly to rises in all three banks. Reaction to Wall Street's fresh all-time high on Tuesday was relatively muted, though this was to be expected since stocks here had already risen on Tuesday in anticipation of the US market rallying that day.

Turnover amounted to a decent two billion units worth S$1.4 billion and excluding warrants there were 245 rises versus 204 falls, so trading was more mixed than the index's reading would suggest.

Brokers described sentiment as cautious but generally firm, given that US stocks have been rising while the VIX Index, which measures expectations of future volatility, has remained very low.

DBS led the gains in banks when it jumped S$0.24 to S$22.19 on volume of 5.5 million. OCBC caught the eye with a S$0.04 rise to S$11.43 that came in heavy volume of 13.4 million. All told, trading in the three banks came to S$337.4 million, or almost one-quarter of the entire market's dollar business.