Singapore stocks rise on US Senate sweep; STI up 0.9%

SINGAPORE shares were pulled into positive territory on Thursday, led by gains from Wall Street overnight.

This came even as hundreds of President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the US legislative building, disrupting the congressional vote to certify the 2020 presidential election results.

On the Singapore bourse, the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) rose 27.02 points or 0.9 per cent to 2,890.03 as at 9am on Thursday.

Gainers outnumbered losers 124 to 26, after 103.3 million securities worth S$84.5 million changed hands.

Among the index securities, the most heavily traded by volume was Singtel, which slipped S$0.01 or 0.4 per cent to S$2.29, with 3.7 million shares traded.

Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust gained S$0.01 or 0.3 per cent to S$3.04, with 1.8 million units traded.

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The trio of local lenders were up in early trade. DBS jumped S$0.50 or 2 per cent to S$25.68, OCBC added S$0.11 or 1.1 per cent to S$10.20, and UOB advanced S$0.29 or 1.3 per cent to S$22.85.

Motion control systems specialist ISDN Holdings rose 2.5 Singapore cents or 5.8 per cent to 45.5 cents.

Mainboard-listed iFast Corporation was also up, gaining S$0.17 or 5.1 per cent to S$3.48. This comes after the wealth management platform on Wednesday said its assets under administration hit a record S$14.45 billion as at Dec 31, 2020, up 44.5 per cent from S$10 billion a year ago.

Meanwhile, Leader Environmental Technologies rose 0.4 Singapore cent or 3.3 per cent to 12.7 cents. In response to queries from the Singapore Exchange regarding its "unusual price movements" on Wednesday, the China-based group said it had just obtained a 56.5 million yuan (S$11.5 million) contract for a wastewater treatment project in Hebei.

Over on Wall Street, the Dow finished at a record high on Wednesday, as investors largely shrugged off the chaos in Washington after Democrats clinched victory in the second Georgia Senate runoff. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 30,829.40, up 1.4 per cent, and the broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.6 per cent to close at 3,748.14, whereas tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.6 per cent at 12,740.79.

European stocks surged on Wednesday after a second Covid-19 vaccine won regulatory approval in the region, while bets rose for bigger US fiscal stimulus as Democrats closed in on a Senate victory. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 1.4 per cent to its highest level since late February last year.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo shares surged on Thursday despite the US Capitol siege. The Nikkei 225 index added 1.1 per cent or 284.52 points to 27,340.46 in early trade, while the broader Topix index rose 1.2 per cent or 21.92 points to 1,818.10.

IG senior market strategist Pan Jingyi noted that Asia markets are going into Thursday with the "positive sentiment being the de facto mood".

"Early movers in the region including the ASX 200 and the Kospi had charged up by more than 1 per cent, though the Hong Kong market may sit out with Tencent and Alibaba coming under US scrutiny," Ms Pan said.

Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at Axi, told The Business Times on Thursday that he expects markets to keep with a bullish bias, as the US Senate outcome should be viewed as the "most favourable outcome from a stimulus perspective", that should benefit both emerging market and Asia risk.

He added that vaccine optimisation and higher yields should also help the heavier weighted banking sectors in Singapore.