STI climbs 17 points, shrugs off UK polls outcome

WHAT a day! The outcome of UK's snap election which hogged world attention was disastrous for UK's Prime Minister Theresa May with the pound suffering a beating but evidently, not so for the local bourse which lapped up a second straight day of gains.

The key Straits Times Index (STI) gained 17.14 points or 0.5 per cent to 3,254.19 on Friday with several key Asian bourses following suit. Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.5 per cent, China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.3 per cent, South Korea's Kospi advanced 0.8 per cent while Malaysia's KLCI was up 0.2 per cent. "It appears that investors are treating the UK election as an independent Brexit/Britain issue, which is something that will lead to more concern for the UK and its economy than impact financial markets elsewhere," said FXTM vice-president of market research Jameel Ahmad.

The trading day in Asia began with the unfolding of an unexpected outcome in UK's polls and one that markets had feared - a hung Parliament with no party commanding an overall majority. This means further political instability in the UK and this is happening less than a year after the country voted to leave the European Union and triggered Brexit fears.