Singapore stocks rise on Wednesday, tracking Wall Street gains; STI up 0.6%
Tan Nai Lun
SINGAPORE stocks ended higher on Wednesday (Jul 19), tracking overnight gains on Wall Street.
The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) gained 0.6 per cent or 20.98 points to 3,275.24. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 295 to 283 after 1.3 billion securities worth S$1.1 billion changed hands.
Yeap Jun Rong, market analyst at IG, said stocks in Asia likely took on a positive handover from Wall Street overnight, as it rallied amid better-than-expected earnings results from major US banks, with some catch-up gains in the value sectors.
He also noted that market sentiments are soaked in the potential bottoming-out in corporate earnings, to support a worst-is-over stance and pricing for a recovery over the coming quarters.
“A divergence in performance was seen in Chinese equities however, with the lacklustre read in China’s economic conditions lately keeping investors shunning for now,” he added.
Key indices in the region were mixed. The Nikkei rose 1.2 per cent, and the Kospi inched up 0.02 per cent. Meanwhile, the Hang Seng fell 0.3 per cent and the Bursa lost 0.2 per cent.
In Singapore, UOB was the STI’s largest gainer on Wednesday, rising 3.4 per cent or S$0.95 to close at S$28.64. The lender will be the first among the trio of local banks to report its second-quarter earnings next Thursday.
The other two local lenders also ended the day higher. DBS gained 0.7 per cent or S$0.21 to close at S$32.74, while OCBC rose 1.6 per cent or S$0.20 to close at S$12.67.
Wednesday’s biggest loser on the STI was DFI Retail Group , which lost 2.1 per cent or US$0.06 to close at US$2.86.
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