Stronger China data boosts local bourse

SINGAPORE stocks on Thursday extended gains from the previous day on better China trade data and more hopes that the US-China trade deadline could be postponed.

Official data released on Thursday showed Chinese exports outpaced forecasts to rise 9.1 per cent year-on-year in January, after having fallen in December. Although imports continued to fall from the previous month, they declined just 1.5 per cent from a year ago; the Bloomberg News forecast was for a 10.2 per cent decline.

Analysts remained cautious about the news, noting that the Chinese New Year holiday affects business activity at the start of the year and makes it hard to compare trends in the data.