Singapore stocks close higher on Wednesday; STI up 0.9%

SINGAPORE shares ended higher on Wednesday (Apr 20), in line with most markets in the region, following overnight gains on Wall Street.

The Straits Times Index (STI) climbed 0.9 per cent or 28.19 points to close at 3,335.32.

Genting Singapore led the gains on the STI, with the counter rising 2.5 per cent to close at S$0.81.

Meanwhile, Keppel DC Reit ended at the bottom of the index performance table, after tumbling 5.9 per cent to S$2.09. The decline follows a business update on Apr 19 that showed gross revenue for Q1 slipped 0.9 per cent on year, while net property income came in 1.4 per cent lower.

Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered decliners 264 to 192, after 2.1 billion securities worth S$1.4 billion changed hands.

Sembcorp Marine was the most actively traded counter by volume, with the stock falling 3.9 per cent to S$0.123, after 473 million shares worth S$59.6 million were traded.

Elsewhere in the region, markets mostly ended Wednesday higher, with key indices in Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and Taiwan climbing between 0.1 and 0.9 per cent.

Chinese equities, however, bucked the trend. Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, noted that China had underperformed the rest of Asia, as the People’s Bank of China “surprisingly decided against cutting both the 1 and 5-year loan prime rates".

The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.3 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index also ended the day in the red, down 0.4 per cent.