STI climbs 0.2% on upbeat prospects for global growth

TRADERS evidently couldn't find one good reason to sell as they capped the second trading week of the new year. On the contrary, there were plenty of reasons not to quit the show ahead of the release of some key US data and rising oil prices, as optimism over the health of the global economy stayed strong.

The key Straits Times Index snapped two straight days of losses that were led by profit-taking activities and inched back up again by 7.9 points or 0.2 per cent to finish at 3,520.56 on Friday, shrugging off soft trade data in December out of China.

The moderation in China's trade figures was somewhat expected mainly because the November export figures were "so strong".