Singapore shares rise for 5th straight day

THE Singapore share market extended its winning streak on Wednesday, notching up a fifth consecutive day of gains after traders learned to stop worrying and love the absence of bombs exchanged between the United States and North Korea. For now.

Local stocks ended 0.3 per cent higher, with the Straits Times Index (STI) moving up 9.83 points to 3,173.76. The blue-chip index was buoyed after China's leaders said that they would improve financial support for the country's real economy, and also in anticipation of tax cuts by US President Donald Trump.

Interestingly, a study by an economics professor at the University of Bonn in Germany found that there was "surprisingly little evidence that populists are bad for markets", according to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday. The researcher, Moritz Schularick, apparently found that historically speaking, bond yields fell two years after populists took power, and that five years after, stocks gained, sovereign credit ratings improved and currencies appreciated.