Singapore stocks bounce back from losses; STI up 1.04%

SINGAPORE stocks on Thursday took a cue from Wall Street's overnight rebound and edged higher over the course of the day after opening in positive territory. The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) ended 1.04 per cent or 32.72 points higher at 3,187.78.

Among the STI constituents, ComfortDelGro emerged as top performer for the day, gaining S$0.04 or 2.29 per cent to end at S$1.79.

On Wednesday, e-commerce platform Lazada and ComfortDelGro announced a partnership that will allow shoppers in Singapore to book ComfortDelGro taxis within the Lazada app.

The Mapletree trio also ended the day in the black. Mapletree Commercial Trust gained 1.43 per cent to end at S$2.13; Mapletree Industrial Trust ended 0.72 per cent higher at S$2.79; Mapletree Logistics Trust closed up 0.51 per cent at S$1.97.

Earlier on Thursday, Bloomberg reported that Mapletree Investments is exploring listing a student housing real estate investment trust (Reit) in Singapore that could raise about US$1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. An initial public offering could take place as soon as next year, one of them said.

Jardine Matheson Holdings (JMH) and Singtel were the biggest decliners on the STI for the day. JMH fell US$0.39 or 0.61 per cent to close at US$63.94, while Singtel ended S$0.01 or 0.39 per cent down at S$2.53.

On the broader market, advancers outnumbered decliners 273 to 203 for the day, as 1.41 billion securities worth S$1.24 billion changed hands.

Across the region, Asian markets on Thursday similarly clawed back their losses.

The Nikkei 225 Index snapped its two-day losing streak to end 679.62 points or 2.38 per cent higher at 29,188.17, while the benchmark Kospi edged up 5.86 points or 0.18 per cent to close at 3,177.52. The Hang Seng Index also gained 133.42 points or 0.47 per cent to end at 28,755.34.

Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst for Asia-Pacific at Oanda, said that stock markets globally "continue to chop back (and) forth on whichever speculative momentum and sentiment is more powerful on the day".

He added: "A lack of clear new drivers has played its part with a lot of good news priced into equity valuation globally. Nerves that Covid-19 may linger for longer and vaccine effectiveness temper a buy-everything rally that is looking a little tired."