Singapore stocks rally on Iran peace deal; Jardine Matheson up 5.3%

[SINGAPORE] The Straits Times Index was up on Monday (Jun 15) at noon, on the back of an announcement of a US-Iran peace deal.

It was up 1 per cent at 5,076.62 at midday, easing from the 1.2 per cent gain to 5,085.19 points as at 9.16 am.

Across the broader market, gainers beat losers 367 to 183, after 862.6 million securities worth S$967.4 million changed hands.

Jardine Matheson Holdings led the gainers on the blue-chip index. The counter had increased 6.8 per cent to US$67.53 as at 9.13 am, before trading at US$66.60 at 12.01 pm – still up 5.3 per cent.

The multinational conglomerate will be holding its investor day on Tuesday, its website noted.

Local banks opened higher on Monday, before easing by midday. DBS was up 0.2 per cent or S$0.10 at S$63.34, while UOB increased 0.9 per cent or S$0.34 to S$38.50. OCBC gained 1.1 per cent or S$0.25 to hit S$23.75.

Jayden Vantarakis, head of Asean equity research at Macquarie Capital, told The Business Times that consumer stocks could benefit if the ceasefire deal results in lower oil prices, as inflation pressure eases.

Singapore-listed real estate investment trusts could be secondary beneficiaries also, “as lower forward inflation could temper expectations of rate hikes”, he added.

In the wider region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 5 per cent at midday, while South Korea’s Kospi was up 5.6 per cent.

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The ASX 200 rose 1.3 per cent at noon, and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ticked up 0.6 per cent.

Oil was down by more than 4 per cent on Monday, with Brent crude futures declining US$3.58, or 4.1 per cent, to US$83.75 per barrel.

US West Texas Intermediate was down US$4.01, or 4.7 per cent, at US$80.87, a Reuters report noted.

Additional reporting by Deon Loke