Singapore

A RECOVERY in demand for new bulk carriers has helped Singapore's worst-performing stock in 2016 become its best this year.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings Ltd, which specialises in dry bulk carriers, has rallied 83 per cent in 2017 to lead the benchmark Straits Times Index. It closed 2.5 Singapore cents higher at S$1.485 on Monday. The Chinese shipbuilding firm has made a comeback after it won 13 contracts worth US$318 million in the first quarter, about 40 per cent of its US$823 million worth of orders it won last year.