STI ends higher but poor volume persists

LIQUIDITY has been a problem in daily trading for many months now and Tuesday's turnover of 1.5 billion units worth S$766 million was the seventh time dollar value fell below the S$1 billion mark out of the past eight sessions. The one exception was Friday, Sept 30, when quarter-ending "portfolio rebalancing" pushed volume to S$1.1 billion.

The Straits Times Index (STI) in the meantime laboured to a 13.8 points gain at 2,884.64 with the entire market's advance-decline score, excluding warrants, amounting to 222-128.

The index's rise pushed it about two points into the black for 2016 and was likely in tandem with a 40 points gain in the Dow futures but, quite understandably, most comments from brokers were aimed at the poor volume.