STI closes 0.68% higher with bank earnings in the spotlight

LOCAL shares made mild gains on Wednesday, on hopes that US lawmakers will reach an agreement on the next round of fiscal stimulus and safeguard the global economic recovery. More capital had poured into treasuries and gold the night before, with the yellow metal soaring past US$2,000 per ounce for the first time in history.

The Straits Times Index (STI) closed in the green, rising 16.99 points or 0.68 per cent to 2,532.69. About 1.64 billion securities worth S$1.41 billion changed hands on Wednesday. Gainers outnumbered losers 284 to 169. Top gainer Venture Corp advanced 66 Singapore cents or 3.64 per cent to S$18.80 after DBS analyst Ling Lee Keng raised her target price from S$15.90 to S$20.70 - the highest on the street. The electronics manufacturing services firm will report earnings on Friday evening.

Ms Ling wrote on Wednesday: "Consensus is still neutral to negative on Venture but we remain positive on the group's ability to continue to invest to enhance its differentiating capabilities within its ecosystems of interest... Given that the worst could be over for the supply chain and demand is still relatively strong, judging from the results of the recently released industry leaders, we upgrade Venture to 'buy' from 'hold'."