Muted trading; medical stocks rally on rising global Covid-19 case count

THE Straits Times Index (STI) rebounded a marginal 5.38 points or 0.17 per cent to 3,184.77 on Thursday amid muted trading, with gainers outnumbering losers 236 to 226.

Some 1.56 billion securities worth S$1.12 billion changed hands.

The best index performer was Sembcorp Industries, which added S$0.07 or 3.67 per cent to S$1.98, likely on news of the State Board of Administration of Florida disclosing votes supporting nearly all of the company's management proposals.

Medical stocks also rallied. Medical equipment supplier Medtecs International, Aspen (which has a glove making unit), and glove makers UG Healthcare, Top Glove and Riverstone averaged 4 per cent gains, taking their month-to-date gains to 12.2 per cent.

Singapore Exchange's market strategist Geoff Howie said: "An err on the side of caution has steadily grown in the first half of April. This has corresponded with daily new global Covid-19 cases returning to more than 800,000 people per day, as seen in early January, and up from the less than 400,000 people per day reported between mid-February and mid-March."

This might also explain why Singapore Airlines performed the worst on the index, with shares retreating S$0.16 or 2.91 per cent to S$5.34, seemingly unfazed by news of active discussions between Singapore and Hong Kong on starting the long-delayed air travel bubble, as confirmed by Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung on Wednesday.

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Equity markets were similarly muted in the rest of Asia, following Wall Street's decline overnight. The Nikkei 225 added 0.07 per cent; the Hang Seng index dipped 0.37 per cent, the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.52 per cent, while Malaysia's KLCI index gained 0.62 per cent.