Market up on Macron's election victory

THE Straits Times Index (STI) managed a 7.25-point rise to 3,236.98 on Monday in response to the widely-expected news that Emmanuel Macron, the market's preferred choice for president of France, had won Sunday's run-off against his rival Marine Le Pen.

Overall trading was slightly firm with 250 rises versus 211 falls excluding warrants, while turnover was a decent 2.6 billion units worth S$1.34 billion.

The three banks were the main drivers of last week's surge on hopes that the worst is over for them. DBS has been outstanding in this regard, though on Monday it dropped S$0.12 to S$20.30 with some 4.2 million shares traded.