Singapore shares and most regional peers rise as Wall Street rallies

SINGAPORE shares advanced along with most regional peers on Thursday (Dec 9) as Wall Street's major indices rallied for the third straight session amid diminishing Omicron coronavirus variant fears.

The Singapore Straits Times Index (STI) *STI rose 0.41 per cent or 12.68 points to 3,142.45.

Positive preliminary lab studies from vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and BioNTech continue to downplay the economic risks of the virus, said IG market strategist Yeap Jun Rong.

The focus may therefore start to shift towards the next market risk in line - the accelerated tapering of asset purchases from the Fed, said Yeap.

Across the Singapore market, gainers outnumbered losers 280 to 156, after 1.3 billion securities worth S$867.3 million changed hands.

The best-performing stock on the STI was Jardine Matheson Holdings J36 , which ended the day up 3.1 per cent or US$1.66 at US$55.80. The company announced on Wednesday (Dec 8) evening that it plans to double the size of its share-buyback scheme to US$500 million. It had in end-Sep launched a programme to repurchase up to US$250 million of shares by Jun 30, 2022.

Only 3 of the 30 STI constituents ended the day in the red. The biggest loser was Dairy Farm International D01 which fell 1 per cent or US$0.03 to US$3.01.

DBS D05 and OCBC O39 were also among the bottom 3. DBS shed 0.1 per cent or S$0.04 to S$31.95; OCBC dipped 0.4 per cent S$0.05 to S$11.34. Meanwhile, UOB U11 was up 0.2 per cent or S$0.05 to S$26.87.

The most active counter on the blue-chip index was CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust C38U with over 23.3 million shares changing hands. Its shares ended the day flat at S$2.04.

With the exception of Japan's Nikkei 225 which fell 0.47 per cent, most key benchmark indices in the region ended the day higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 1.08 per cent; South Korea's Kospi gained 0.93 per cent; Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur Composite Index rose 0.52 per cent and Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index ended 0.61 per cent higher.