Penny stocks in focus as blue chips stagnate

PENNY-STOCK fever gripped the Singapore stock market on Tuesday as its latest leader, CEFC International, continued its gravity-defying run with a stunning 64 per cent gain that took its rise in a little over a week to almost 900 per cent, creating spillover rises for several other low-priced issues such as Oceanus, Foreland Fabrictech, Sino Construction and WE.

The largest percentage gain for the day was reserved for China shoe-sole maker Qingmei, which rocketed up S$0.026 or 325 per cent to S$0.034 on a volume of 155.2 million.

Blue chips in the meantime stagnated, possibly as attention was diverted to penny stocks. The Straits Times Index (STI) experienced an unremarkable session, drifting within a narrow band before ending 2.07 points lower at 3,371.41.