Singapore shares close higher on Friday in holiday-shortened trading; STI up 0.4%

SINGAPORE shares rose for the fourth consecutive day on Friday (Dec 24), with traders showing optimism heading into the year-end holidays.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) climbed 0.4 per cent or 11.47 points to close at 3,108.28.

The move tracks gains in most regional markets on Friday morning, and follows Wall Street's rally on Thursday, where key indices rose between 0.6 and 0.9 per cent, with the S&P 500 closing at a new record.

Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank, said in a note that there may be temptation to declare the overnight gains in equities and a softer US dollar as "risk on". But he added that it would be a "gross mis-characterisation" to suggest that this is a "Santa rally where bulls may flourish with abandon".

He noted that the markets would still be awaiting clarity on factors including the impact of the Omicron Covid-19 variant, as well as the US Federal Reserve's path to hike rates.

On the local bourse, gainers outnumbered losers 214 to 122 after 497.5 million securities worth S$272.6 million changed hands, with the market only open for half-day trading on Christmas eve.

ST Engineering shares were the top index gainer, rising 1.1 per cent to close at S$3.74. Just 2 STI counters finished the day in the red: Jardine Matheson fell 0.1 per cent to US$55.69, while Dairy Farm International declined 0.7 per cent to close at US$2.73.

Across the broader market, shares of Catalist-listed Metech International were among the top actives, with the counter rising 1.4 per cent to S$0.365 after 24.3 million shares worth S$8.8 million changed hands.

For the week, the STI was down 0.1 per cent from the 3,111.63 close on Dec 17.