Singapore stocks edge up cautiously on Friday; STI up 0.3%

THE Straits Times Index (STI) overcame weak sentiment earlier in the day to register a third straight winning session, edging up 0.3 per cent or 8.93 points to close at 3,249.66 points on Friday (Mar 11).

In the wider Singapore market, gainers outnumbered losers 237 to 222, with 1.21 billion shares worth S$1.13 billion traded.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets mostly finished lower. Japan's Nikkei fell 2.1 per cent, South Korea's Kospi lost 0.7 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.6 per cent and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down 0.8 per cent.

"Although Asia has been quiet on the headline front today, the region clearly doesn't want to carry heavy long exposures into the weekend," said Oanda senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley.

The top performer on the STI was City Developments, which rose 1.5 per cent or S$0.11 to close at S$7.29.

At the bottom of the blue-chip table were 3 members of the Jardine Matheson Group - Dairy Farm International (DFI), Jardine Matheson Holdings (JMH) and Hongkong Land.

DFI fell 3.6 per cent or US$0.09 to close at US$2.42, JMH lost 2.2 per cent or US$1.22 to end at US$54.80 and Hongkong Land dropped 1.7 per cent or US$0.09 to finish at US$5.11.

Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) was the most heavily traded counter on the STI for the third consecutive day, with 24 million shares traded. The counter climbed another 0.8 per cent or S$0.02 to S$2.58.

The trio of local lenders also mostly ended higher. DBS rose 1.1 per cent or S$0.37 to close at S$33.26 and UOB climbed 0.5 per cent or S$0.16 to S$30.12. OCBC closed flat at S$11.72.