Singapore stocks gain on Wednesday amid investor optimism; STI up 1.4%

SINGAPORE shares advanced strongly on Wednesday (Oct 13), with investors showing optimism towards reopening as the country transitions towards an endemic Covid-19.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) climbed 1.4 per cent or 44.37 points on Wednesday to close at 3,156.42.

IG market strategist, Yeap Jun Rong, said the STI is finding some strength on renewed investor optimism ahead of Thursday's (Oct 14) monetary policy statement from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

"Policy stance may be expected to remain unchanged for now, as economic recovery from Covid-19 continues to chug along," he said, adding that greater clarity on the country's endemic approach to Covid-19 has "removed previous overhang surrounding reopening plans, lifting investors' confidence that the general direction will continue to point towards reopening".

Yeap also noted that SGX fund flow data has shown net institutional inflows in the past 4 weeks.

Shares of Thai Beverage climbed 3.7 per cent on Wednesday to close at S$0.71, finishing the day as the top STI performer. Other gainers include Genting Singapore, which climbed 2.6 per cent to S$0.775, as well as the three local banks, DBS, OCBC and UOB, which saw their shares gain between 1.2 and 2.1 per cent.

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Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was the only STI counter to end the day lower, with its shares falling 1.4 per cent to close at S$1.38.

Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 279 to 152 after 1.5 billion securities worth S$1.5 billion changed hands.

Thomson Medical shares were the most actively traded by volume; the counter climbed 4.6 per cent to close at S$0.091, with 75.7 million shares having changed hands.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets were mixed. Key indices in Japan and Australia ended the day in the red, but other major indices in China, South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia finished higher on Wednesday.