Singapore stocks rebound on Wednesday; STI up 1.5%

THE Straits Times Index (STI) reversed from losses earlier in the week to close 1.5 per cent or 46.52 points higher at 3,195.38 points on Wednesday (Mar 9).

In the wider Singapore market, gainers outnumbered losers 303 to 224, with 1.6 billion shares worth S$1.54 billion changing hands.

The rebound came even as most key Asian markets continued to see losses amid rising oil prices.

Japan's Nikkei dipped 0.3 per cent, South Korea's Kospi fell 1.1 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.7 per cent, while the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 1 per cent.

The way Oanda senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley describes it, market sentiment across Asia is "fragile at best".

"Asian markets... will remain glued to their news tickers for any new developments from Ukraine-Russia, or any negative developments that will negatively impact the commodity space," Halley said.

The top gainers on the STI were local banks UOB and DBS, which climbed 3.7 per cent and 3.3 per cent, respectively. UOB closed S$1.04 higher at S$29.31 while DBS added S$1.03 to end at S$32.26.

The other local lender, OCBC, also registered gains. The counter closed 1.4 per cent or S$0.16 higher at S$11.48.

At the bottom of the blue-chip index was Genting Singapore, which fell 2 per cent or S$0.015 to S$0.75.

Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) was the most heavily traded counter on the STI. The counter closed 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 higher at S$2.52 with 28.4 million shares traded.