Singapore shares rebound on Friday; STI up 0.6%
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SINGAPORE stocks rode the tailwinds of Wall Street's surprising overnight reversal to end higher on Friday (Feb 25) as sanctions imposed on Russia were not as strong as markets had feared following its attack on Ukraine.
The benchmark Straits Times Index ended up 0.6 per cent or 18.41 points at 3,294.47, after rallying as much as 1.7 per cent at the open. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 327 to 159 after 1.5 billion shares worth S$2.3 billion changed hands.
With the exception of Hong Kong shares which closed down 0.6 per cent despite a strong start, regional markets were up as well; major indexes in Japan, South Korea and Australia closed between 0.1 per cent and 2 per cent higher.
But even as Western nations had stopped short of disconnecting Russia from the SWIFT international banking system or targeting its oil and gas exports, Stephen Innes, managing partner of SPI Asset Management, noted that markets are not in "investing mode, quite yet".
"It feels like while markets believe the worst-case scenario has been sidestepped for now in terms of sanctions on Russia, investors are likely to wait to see how events play out over the weekend before sizing up positions," he said.
Sembcorp Industries was the top STI performer for the second day running, finishing 4.5 per cent or S$0.11 higher at S$2.56.
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Trailing behind were Singtel, which gained 2.8 per cent to close at S$2.60, and Venture Corporation, which closed up 2.7 per cent at S$17.68.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) also saw big gains after the flag carrier registered its first quarterly profit since the onset of the pandemic. The stock moved up 2.6 per cent to close at S$5.07.
Among the trio of local banks, which sustained 4.5 to 5 per cent losses on Thursday, OCBC and UOB remain in negative territory. The counters continued their fall by 1.3 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively, while DBS closed up 0.6 per cent.
The top STI decliner was ComfortDelgro, which shed 1.4 per cent to close at S$1.42.
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