STI caps choppy week with 0.39% gain

SINGAPORE shares closed higher on Friday, partly buoyed by encouraging trade data as it snapped two straight days of losses and shrugged off overnight dips in Wall Street led by pandemic fears.

The key Straits Times Index rose 12.32 points or 0.39 per cent to finish at 3,152.30. The market's barometer capped a choppy trading week on an improved note and gained 20.9 points or 0.7 per cent week-on-week. For the year, the STI is up nearly 11 per cent.

Sentiments in the local bourse may have been partly lifted by strong trade data as Singapore's exports in June powered on well above forecast, partly owing to a low base a year ago. Non-oil domestic exports (NODX) jumped 15.9 per cent for the month, the fastest pace in 15 months, driven by both electronics and non-electronics.

Except for Australia, Hong Kong and Malaysia, other key gauges across the region from Japan, China, Taiwan to South Korea ended the day with losses. Caution continued to prevail, given rising Covid-19 infections across the Asia-Pacific and this time, in the US too.

Turnover in the local bourse came in at 1.34 billion units worth S$844.53 million. Gainers outpaced losers with 267 counters up and 192 down.

Sanli Environmental saw massive action and jumped to a 52-week high of 16.3 Singapore cents after gaining 9.2 Singapore cents or 130 per cent upon trading resumption on Friday. The counter, which generally draws anaemic trading, was the day's second most active with 48 million shares worth nearly S$7 million traded. On Thursday, the Catalist-listed firm said it bagged a S$73 million job from the Public Utilities Board for the construction and commissioning of new disinfection systems in Johor, Malaysia. This brings total order book to S$329.8 million, which is expected to be completed by early 2026, it added.

Mercurius Capital Investment fell 0.6 Singapore cent or 8.2 per cent to 6.7 Singapore cents. The firm responded late Thursday to queries from the Singapore Exchange regarding its acquisition of a Malaysian supermarket chain and that it did not need to seek shareholders' consent as they "are fully aware of this and of the fact that by considering and voting on the new business, they are considering and indirectly voting on the proposed acquisition". The counter was the day's fifth most active with 32 million shares worth just over S$2 million traded.