Singapore shares rise on Wednesday; STI up 0.2%

SINGAPORE stocks were pulled into positive territory on Wednesday (Dec 27) following overnight gains on Wall Street as traders ease into a historically strong period of the year.

The Straits Times (STI) Index headed up 0.2 per cent or 7.33 points to 3,147.31 as at 9.02 am. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 82 to 27, after 37.5 million securities worth S$35.8 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was Thai Beverage Public Company , which was up 1 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.51 with 5.7 million shares traded.

Other heavily traded securities included RH Petrogas , which was down 4 per cent or S$0.008 to S$0.19 with 3.9 million shares traded and Seatrium , which climbed 0.9 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.114 with 2.9 million shares traded.

On Tuesday, Seatrium said the former president of its Brazilian unit Martin Cheah was acquitted of all charges stemming from anti-corruption probe Operation Car Wash on Dec 20. Another individual linked to the probe, Guilherme Esteves de Jesus, was also acquitted by the Brazilian Federal Lower Court on the same day.

Banking stocks were mixed in early morning trade. DBS was up 0.4 per cent or S$0.14 to S$32.04, UOB was down 0.1 per cent or S$0.03 to S$27.62, while OCBC rose 0.2 per cent or S$0.02 to S$12.67.

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In the US, stocks finished higher on Tuesday, extending a rally amid light trading after the Christmas holiday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.4 per cent higher to 37,545.33. The broad-based S&P 500 also added 0.4 per cent to 4,774.75, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Indexadvanced 0.5 per cent to 14,074.57.