Singapore shares finish higher; local corporate deals push STI to 2-year high

EXTERNALLY, support for stocks this week came from Wall Street or, to be more specific, from a reportedly upbeat assessment of the US economy and interest rates from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen in her mid-week congressional testimony.

Internally, support came from corporate deals - the S$1.82 billion redevelopment of Golden Shoe Carpark, the potential takeover of United Engineers by a consortium comprising Perennial Real Estate and Yanlord Land and, perhaps most notably from the viewpoint of the Straits Times Index (STI), the offer-cum-privatisation bid for Global Logistics Properties (GLP) at S$3.38 per share.

GLP jumped S$0.59 or 22 per cent to S$3.29 on volume of 153.6 million, adding 21 points to the STI and S$507 million to turnover.

As a result, the index posted a 51.76 points or 1.6 per cent rise to a two-year high of 3,287.43, bringing its rise for the week to 58 points or 1.8 per cent.

Business done on Friday was 2.7 billion units worth S$1.84 billion, the highest since S$2.7 billion was traded on Feb 28.