Singapore stocks cap off volatile week in the black; STI up 0.3%

SINGAPORE stocks were up on Friday (Dec 3), with the Straits Times Index (STI) edging up 0.3 per cent, or 9.82 points to close at 3,101.93 points.

Advancers beat decliners 269 to 194 in the wider Singapore market after 1.04 billion shares worth S$1.13 billion changed hands.

Across Asia, Oanda senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley said that the region's markets appeared to have taken a wait-and-see approach despite the overnight rally on Wall Street, in which the S&P 500 climbed 1.4 per cent and the Nasdaq rose 0.8 per cent.

"Most immediately, the US releases non-farm payrolls this evening and assuming the Omicron news remains less 'end of the world', a print above 550,000 jobs should see the faster Fed-taper trade reassert itself," he said.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1 per cent, while South Korea's Kospi gained 0.8 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index shed 0.1 per cent. Meanwhile, Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index lost 0.7 per cent.

On the STI, CapitaLand Investment 9CI : 9CI 0%was the biggest loser, shedding 1.2 per cent or S$0.04 to close at S$3.33.

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At the top of the table was Sats S58 : S58 0%, which gained 2.6 per cent or S$0.10 to close at S$3.92.

Across the wider Singapore market, Sembcorp Marine S51 was the most traded counter by volume. It closed flat at S$0.083 after 43 million shares worth S$3.6 million were traded. The company announced on Friday that its wholly-owned subsidiary secured a contract to design the world's first green ammonia-fuelled tanker.

Performance of the trio of local banks was mixed on Friday. DBS D05 lost 0.3 per cent, or S$0.08 to close at S$31.47, while OCBC O39 fell 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 to close at S$11.29 and UOB U11 ga : U11 0%ined 0.5 per cent, or S$0.12 to close at S$26.32.