Singapore stocks join regional peers in rally; STI ends 0.4% higher
Tay Peck Gek
THE bullishness in regional stock markets rubbed off on Singapore’s, lifting the blue-chip benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) by 14.42 points or 0.4 per cent to 3,335.09 on Thursday (Apr 28).
The better showing by stock markets in the Asia-Pacific - with Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumping 1.8 per cent, making it the best performer in the region - came as big US tech players reported strong financial results.
About ⅔ of STI stocks finished trading with gains, led by Jardine Cycle & Carriage on its “improved” first-quarter performance. The automobile group’s counter rose 8.5 per cent to S$29.10.
Apac Realty , which owns ERA Realty Network in Singapore, continued to see its share price come under pressure as the counter dropped another 7.8 per cent to S$0.655 on Thursday, after sliding 11.8 per cent a day ago.
The S$0.57 acquisition offer by majority shareholder Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia for each share that it does not already own sparked a sell-off in the property agency because the offer price is a 30.1 per cent discount from the last traded price before the takeover announcement.
The most active counter by volume was Sembcorp Marine as its trading volume reached a whopping 1.2 billion shares - against its monthly average of 3.4 billion shares over the last quarter, and contributing nearly over 40 per cent of the trading turnover of the market.
In the broader market, gainers beat decliners 260 to 209 on a turnover of 2.81 billion securities worth a total S$1.60 billion in value.
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