Straits Times Index finishes the week down 1.15%

THE Straits Times Index (STI) rose 14.36 points or 0.55 per cent to finish at 2,604.51 on Friday, but ended the week 1.15 per cent lower than a week ago as the benchmark index see-sawed through a series of election news and continued fears of a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

On Friday, some 5.45 billion shares changed hands - an unusually high volume - although it appears that most of the activity was centred on penny stocks as the securities traded were only worth S$986.64 million in all.

Indeed, the top three most active counters of the day were all penny stocks. Abalone producer Oceanus closed flat at S$0.004, with 3.5 billion shares changing hands as a new shareholder group led by Alacrity Investment Group acquired a significant stake through a married deal with the group's former major creditor, Ocean Wonder International.