Singapore stocks rise amid mixed regional showing; STI up 0.3%

[SINGAPORE] Singapore stocks ended higher on Wednesday (Apr 15) amid mixed results from regional peers.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) gained 0.3 per cent or 13.63 points to finish at 5,021.20.

Sembcorp Industries led the gainers on Singapore’s blue-chip index, rising 3 per cent or S$0.21 to S$7.10.

The worst performer among STI constituents was Keppel , which fell 1.4 per cent or S$0.17 to S$11.94.

The three local banks ended mixed on Wednesday.

DBS advanced 0.2 per cent or S$0.10 to S$57.70, OCBC closed flat at S$22.88, and UOB finished little changed, down 0.03 per cent or S$0.01 at S$37.59.

Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 372 to 235, after 2.2 billion securities worth S$2.1 billion changed hands.

Key regional indices were mixed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.3 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.4 per cent, and South Korea’s Kospi was up 2.1 per cent.

Meanwhile, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined 0.3 per cent.

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Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, noted that despite the unresolved US-Iran war, markets are not just removing downside risk but also “actively pricing upside outcomes”.

“In the span of a single week, the market has flipped from forced selling to forced buying, a complete inversion of flow where liquidation has given way to pursuit,” he added.

“What was once a scramble to cut exposure has become an urgent chase to rebuild it, with capital moving not out of fear, but out of the risk of being left behind.”