Singapore stocks rise in the wake of China stimulus measures; STI up 0.3%

SINGAPORE equities kicked off the trading week in the black on Monday (Sep 30), days after China announced a stimulus package.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.3 per cent or 11.93 points to 3,585.29.

Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 392 to 236, with 1.8 billion shares worth S$1.9 billion having been traded throughout the day.

The biggest gainer on the STI was offshore and marine company Seatrium , which rose 2.9 per cent or S$0.05 to close at S$1.78.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding made the biggest drop on the index. The counter slid 2.4 per cent or S$0.06 to close at S$2.45. It was also the most actively traded counter by volume, with 42.5 million shares worth S$104.5 million traded.

Chinese indices rallied on Monday in the wake of the country’s stimulus package; other markets in the region ended mixed.

China’s blue-chip CSI 300 Index rose 8.5 per cent to its highest level in more than a year, and the Shanghai Composite Index surged 8.1 per cent.

Vasu Menon, the managing director of investment strategy at OCBC, said that Chinese stocks were the “darling” among global markets last week, following the unveiling of the stimulus package by the country’s central bank.

But while Chinese stocks have made a “spectacular rebound”, he noted that China’s market could be extremely volatile.

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“A lot hinges now on whether the latest stimulus will indeed help the economy, and whether China will follow through with aggressive fiscal stimulus as well,” he said.

Across the rest of the region, Australia’s ASX 200 gained 0.7 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei fell 4.8 per cent, and South Korea’s Kospi slipped 2.1 per cent.