STI, KLCI tick up amid positivity on US-China, Malaysia trade and Asean engagement
At the 47th Asean Summit, US and China officials come together to reach an interim consensus on several issues
[SINGAPORE] Asian markets opened higher on Monday (Oct 27) morning after trade talks at the 47th Asean Summit started on Sunday, where several deals were inked.
In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, US and China officials came together to reach an interim consensus on issues ranging from shipping levies to export controls, a Bloomberg report indicated.
Markets will be watching closely the planned meeting of the presidents of both countries, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, scheduled to take place on Thursday.
Notably, President Trump’s 100 per cent tariff threat for Chinese goods is “effectively off the table”, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. Meanwhile, China is expected to defer sweeping rare earth controls and make substantial soybean purchases, although US export controls directed at the world’s second largest economy are not set to change, he added.
Singapore shares were trading in positive territory at the market open, with the Straits Times Index up 0.4 per cent or 15.4 points at 4,437.61.
Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 164 to 44 after 131.3 million securities worth S$125.3 million changed hands.
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Singapore’s banking stocks were trading higher at open. DBS was up 0.8 per cent or S$0.44 at S$53.67. OCBC rose 0.3 per cent or S$0.05 to S$16.82 and UOB climbed 0.2 per cent or S$0.06 to S$34.71.
Among the most actively traded counters on the SGX was Hiap Seng Industrial , which was down 2.9 per cent or S$0.001 at S$0.033, with more than 34 million shares changing hands.
Marco Polo Marine was up 5.2 per cent or S$0.005 at S$0.102, with 21.5 million shares traded and AJJ Medtech was trading flat at S$0.009 with some 12.2 million shares transacted.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ticked up 0.3 per cent to 1,613.27 in early trade on Monday. This comes on the back of the country’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim inking a trade agreement with Trump, plus a critical minerals pact, on Sunday.
Across Asia, the Nikkei 225 was up over 2 per cent at 50,379.79 – crossing the 50,000 mark for the first time. South Korea’s Kopsi index rose around 2.3 per cent, while the ASX 200 index inched up nearly 1 per cent.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up by close to 1 per cent as well, at 26,356.42 on Monday morning.
The Singapore dollar strengthened against the US dollar about 0.2 per cent to around S$1.2969, based on Bloomberg data.
An Oct 22 report by DBS said that the Singapore dollar could potentially achieve 1-to-1 strength with the US dollar by 2040, with the STI projected to rise to 10,000 points over the next 15 years.
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