Singapore shares close higher, led by banks and Genting

THE Straits Times Index on Tuesday rebounded 20 points to 2,923.49, most probably thanks to short-covering in mainly the banks and Genting Singapore ahead of an expected Tuesday rebound on Wall Street.

Turnover remained low at 1.3 billion units worth S$825 million with 65 per cent of dollar value provided by the 30 STI members, whilst the broad market excluding warrants recorded 207 rises against 169 falls.

Rises in the three banks in the early afternoon propelled the STI upwards to an intraday high of 2,939. Genting's S$0.045 or 6 per cent surge to S$0.795 also stood out.

In the healthcare sector, shares of Raffles Medical ended S$0.01 higher at S$4.20 on volume of 685,000 shares. OCBC Investment Research on Monday upgraded the stocks to a "buy" on valuation ground as the stock had dropped 16.6 per cent from its 52-week high of S$4.99 in July, or by 5.2 per cent post third quarter results.

"We note that the marginal 1.2 per cent increase in Q3 PATMI (profit after tax and minority interests) was a tad below our expectations, but acknowledge that this is inevitable, given the group's capacity expansion plans..."

"Looking ahead, we remain cognizant of the cost pressures from all fronts, while management is focused on striving to achieve better efficiency. Given the recent share price correction, we think its current valuation at 30.4x FY16F earnings does not look expensive relative to their healthcare peers; hence we upgrade the stock from hold to BUY, with no change to our estimates and fair value of S$4.59."