Singapore shares end Thursday in the black, STI up 0.2%

LOCAL stocks finished on an upbeat note on Thursday (Feb 10), with the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) chalking up a gain for the fourth day in a row this week.

The STI booked a gain of 0.2 per cent or 7.96 points to cap off the day's trading session at 3,428. Across the broader bourse, gainers beat losers 279 to 182, after some 1.4 billion securities worth a total of S$1.6 billion changed hands.

It was a similar story across the region, with a number of markets ending in positive territory. The KLCI was up 1.2 per cent; the Kospi inched up 0.1 per cent, and the Nikkei added 0.4 per cent. The Hang Seng Index and SSE Composite Index gained 0.4 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively.

Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, said there has been a "clear upturn in sentiment" among traders globally.

"I think we're also seeing investors come to terms with the higher interest rate environment that lies ahead. Of course, there will be a tipping point if markets are forced to price in even more rate hikes but there does now appear to be a level of comfort at the prospect of four or five increases this year from the Fed," he said.

Great Eastern G07 was the top advancer, rising 1.7 per cent or S$0.36 to end the day at S$21.79. Jardine Matheson Holdings J36 was another top gainer, adding 0.6 per cent or US$0.35 to S$60.35.

Among the STI constituents, Hongkong Land H78 was the top gainer, up 2.9 per cent or US$0.16 to US$5.72.

Shinvest Holding BJW was the biggest loser of the day, falling 14.6 per cent or S$0.48 to S$2.82.

Of the trio of lenders, OCBC O39 was the only one to end Thursday in the black. The counter closed at S$13.24, up 0.2 per cent or S$0.02.

UOB U11 and DBS D05 , meanwhile, were among the biggest decliners of the day. UOB fell 0.8 per cent or S$0.26 to S$32.54, while DBS was down 0.4 per cent or S$0.13 to S$36.85.

Penny stock gold miner and explorer Shen Yao Holdings A78 was the most heavily traded counter, with 104 million shares traded over the day. The counter ended unchanged at S$0.003.

Other heavily traded stocks were Sembcorp Marine s51 , Raffles Education NR7 and Aspen 1F3 .