Situational plays push volume above S$1b as STI stalls

THE listing of HC Surgical Specialists, the privatisation of Super Group and the possible takeover of Global Logistic Properties (GLP) helped boost trading at Singapore Exchange on Thursday, overshadowing worries around the globe that Republican candidate Donald Trump might become the next US president.

Those worries first depressed the Straits Times Index (STI) 18 points to an intraday low of 2,789 but by 5pm, the index had rebounded to 2,802.08 for a net loss of just 5.06 points.

Traders, however, focused their attention on "situational plays", that is stocks for which there were either concrete announcements or a very playable theme or both. These elevated volume to 1.7 billion units worth S$1.04 billion, the first time in two weeks dollar value was more than S$1 billion.