Singapore stocks: STI resumes Monday afternoon up 0.1% on day

SINGAPORE shares reversed course to resume trading in positive territory on Monday afternoon, with the Straits Times Index gaining 0.1 per cent or 3.27 points to 3,217.32 as at 1.05pm.

Gainers outnumbered losers 162 to 130, after about 458.4 million shares worth S$346.3 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Rex International gained 2.2 per cent, or 0.4 Singapore cent to 19 cents with 44.3 million shares traded, while Yangzijiang Shipbuilding slipped 2.7 per cent or three Singapore cents to S$1.10 with 15.9 million shares traded.

Financials were mixed in the afternoon trade. DBS shed 0.2 per cent or four Singapore cents to S$25.78, United Overseas Bank (UOB) advanced 0.4 per cent or 10 cents to S$26.47, while OCBC Bank added 0.1 per cent or one cent to S$10.98. DBS and UOB, together with Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore), had announced on Monday morning that they are providing a S$945 million green loan to Allianz Real Estate and Gaw Capital Partners for the two companies' joint acquisition of Duo Tower and Duo Galleria.

Other active index stocks after the midday break include City Developments Limited which rose 1.7 per cent or 18 Singapore cents to S$10.88, and Wilmar International which declined 1.4 per cent or six cents to S$4.13.

Elsewhere, Asian shares forged higher on the back of news that the US and China have agreed on a preliminary trade deal over the weekend. The positive sentiment helped push the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares ex-Japan to its highest in nearly eight months with a 0.35 per cent rise, Reuters reported.

Australian stocks led the way with a 1.74 per cent jump, while shares in Taiwan added 0.23 per cent.