Singapore stocks: STI resumes Thursday afternoon up 0.02% on day

SINGAPORE stocks reversed course to resume trading in positive territory on Thursday afternoon, with the Straits Times Index gaining 0.02 per cent, or 0.5 point to 3,263.20 as at 1.02pm.

Decliners edged out advancers 155 to 149, after about 957.8 million shares worth S$571.9 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Rex International gained 8.5 per cent, or 1.2 Singapore cents to 15.3 cents, with 152.6 million shares traded, while Dyna-Mac Holdings jumped 12.1 per cent, or 1.4 cents to 13 cents, with 31.6 million shares traded.

Shares in oil and gas contractor Dyna-Mac surged on Thursday morning to hit an intra-day high of 14.4 Singapore cents, prompting a query from the Singapore Exchange.

Meanwhile, banking stocks were mixed in the afternoon trade: DBS gained 0.3 per cent, or eight cents to S$26.48, United Overseas Bank slipped 0.3 per cent, or nine cents to S$26.79, and OCBC Bank shed 0.3 per cent or three cents to S$11.07.

Other active index stocks included Yangzijiang Shipbuilding which tumbled almost 4 per cent, or four cents to 97 cents, and CapitaLand which gained 1.1 per cent, or four cents to S$3.70.

BT reported on Wednesday that CapitaLand has started to reap the initial fruits of its acquisition of Ascendas-Singbridge. Earlier this week, the group posted a 7.8 per cent year-on-year drop in net earnings to S$333.93 million for Q3 FY2019.