Singapore stocks show strong start to September; STI up 1.1%

THE Straits Times Index (STI) gained 32.79 points or 1.1 per cent to 3,087.84 points on Wednesday as investors shrugged off weak manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) figures from across the region.

Advancers outnumbered decliners 302 to 193, with 1.59 billion shares worth S$1.02 billion changing hands.

"Being the first day of the month, some mechanical institutional money could be deploying as monthly savers restock fund manager's coffers. Or it could be that the soft PMI data across much of Asia has investors pricing in ultra-low rates for longer," said Oanda senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley.

The best performer was STI constituent Jardine Matheson Holdings (JMH) J36 : J36 0%, which rebounded from losses on Tuesday to close 4.4 per cent or US$2.38 higher at US$56.70 on Wednesday.

Property developer China Yuanbang BCD : BCD 0%was the worst performer, dropping 27.5 per cent or 12.5 Singapore cents to close at 33 cents.

Sats S58 : S58 0%was the only decliner among the STI constituents, slipping 0.5 per cent or S$0.02 to S$4.05.

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The trio of local banks also closed higher on Wednesday. DBS D05 was up 0.9 per cent or S$0.26 to S$30.23, UOB U11 gained 0.3 per cent or S$0.07 to S$25.65, and OCBC O39 ro : O39 0%se 1.6 per cent or S$0.18 to S$11.61.

Elsewhere in Asia, the markets were also mostly up. The Hang Seng Index added 0.6 per cent or 149.30 points to 26,028.29, the Kospi closed up 0.2 per cent or 7.75 points at 3,207.02, and the Nikkei 225 rose 1.3 per cent or 361.48 points to 28,451.02. But the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index shed 0.9 per cent or 14.49 points to 1,586.89.