STI up 0.9% on easing geopolitical worries

SHARE prices in the local bourse rose alongside most major Asian stock markets as they retraced last week's losses partly fuelled by expectations that the latest weak inflation data out of the United States could see the Federal Reserve staying on the dovish side.

That, coupled with some easing off of the US-North Korea tension, helped push the key Straits Times Index (STI) up 29 points or 0.9 per cent to 3,308.69 on Monday with 2.2 billion shares worth S$1.2 billion traded.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.4 per cent while South Korea's Kospi inched 0.6 per cent higher. China's Shanghai Composite finished 0.9 per cent up, snubbing disappointing macro data that was released on retail sales, fixed asset investments and industrial production. OCBC Treasury Research said the recent data out of China could suggest that growth in the world's second-largest economy may have peaked in the first half of 2017.