Singapore properties, banks ride HK tailwind

SINGAPORE property and banking stocks with exposure to China, rallied alongside Hong Kong-listed Mainland developers on Thursday.

China developers had led gains on speculation the security legislation could lend some stability and attract shoppers and funds back to Hong Kong.

"Property stocks with presence in China are very strong, just like China developers. The sentiment is (that) with more US-listed Chinese firms moving back to list in Hong Kong, fund interest will shift there too," a local broker tells The Business Times.

One Hong Kong-based trader said he handled several buy orders on behalf of a state-backed Chinese fund. Mainland-based buyers had snapped up about HK$2 billion (US$258 million) worth of Hong Kong stocks within the first hour of trading today.

Shares of China Evergrande, China's third-largest developer, soared five per cent in Hong Kong on Thursday morning.

Singapore property and financial stocks are benefiting from the bullish spillover from Hong Kong.

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In Singapore, City Developments (CDL) had a 'break out'. It opened at S$8.56 and hit S$8.74 in intraday trading before closing at S$8.70, up 17 Singapore cents, with nearly three million shares traded.

CapitaLand, which counts China as its core market, closed at its intraday high of S$3.01, up nine Singapore cents, with more than 11 million shares traded.

Hongkong Land, which is trading around US$4.10, is seen as an attractive buy as it is trading at a ridiculously steep discount to its net asset value per share of US$16.39 as of end Dec 2019.

Healthcare personal protective equipment (PPE) stocks, which had rallied amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, continue to be punters's delights.

Medtecs International, which is dual-listed in Taiwan and Singapore, saw active trading with more than 80 million shares traded.

Sri Trang Agro Industry was supported by the strong initial public offer debut performance of its unit Sri Trang Gloves Thailand - the world's third largest rubber glove maker - on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

The Straits Times Index ended at 2,632.95, up 22.78 points or 0.87 per cent. A total of 1.8 billion securities, worth S$1.1 billion, were traded.