Singapore stocks end slightly higher on Friday; STI up 0.4 per cent

SINGAPORE shares gained on positive global sentiment on Friday, tracking gains on Wall Street as the Straits Times Index (STI) rose by 0.4 per cent, or 11.66 points to close at 3,112.81.

Gainers beat losers 315 by 153, after 1.54 billion securities worth S$1.02 billion changed hands.

UOB Kay Hian analyst Adrian Loh said that the market could have risen with positive sentiment in the US the night before, with the S&P 500 index rising by 0.8 per cent and the Nasdaq rising by a further 1 per cent.

"The US government, having kicked the can down the road with the debt ceiling to December, has given the market a bit of a breather," Loh said, referring to the agreement that Democratic and Republican Senators struck on Thursday to temporarily lift the US debt ceiling till Dec 3.

Among the STI's 30 constituents, Jardine Cycle & Carriage was the top gainer of the day. Its shares were up 1.7 per cent, or S$0.36 to close at S$21.39.

At the bottom of the table was Genting Singapore, which lost 0.7 per cent, or S$0.005 to close at S$0.725.

Performance of the trio of banks was mixed. DBS shed 0.1 per cent, or S$0.03 to close at S$30.43, while UOB gained 0.3 per cent, or S$0.08 to close at S$26.29. OCBC gained 0.5 per cent, or S$0.06 to close at S$11.62.

Asian markets were mostly up on Friday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.6 per cent, while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 was up 1.3 per cent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was also up 0.2 per cent, while the Jakarta Composite Index was up 1 per cent. On the other hand, Seoul's Kospi edged down 0.1 per cent.