Singapore stocks: STI resumes Wednesday afternoon at 3,108.84, up 0.6% on day

SINGAPORE stocks resumed trading in positive territory on Wednesday afternoon, with the Straits Times Index rising 0.6 per cent, or 18.21 points to 3,108.84 as at 1pm.

This comes on the back of upbeat service sector data from China, and despite private-sector economists sharply lowering their full-year growth forecast for Singapore to 0.6 per cent, down from an earlier 2.1 per cent prediction in June.

On the Singapore bourse, gainers outnumbered losers 218 to 130, after about 580 million shares worth S$485 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, YZJ Shipbuilding gained 3.9 per cent, or 3.5 Singapore cents to 94 cents, with 32.5 million shares traded, while Singtel rose 1.3 per cent, or four cents to S$3.19 with 18.2 million shares traded.

Banking stocks were all in the green by the afternoon trade - DBS rose 0.4 per cent, or nine cents to S$24.44, OCBC Bank was up 0.4 per cent, or four cents to S$10.69, and United Overseas Bank added 0.6 per cent, or 16 cents to S$25.09.

ComfortDelGro gained 2.9 per cent, or seven cents to S$2.53. This comes after the transport giant on Wednesday said it has rolled out an on-demand bus service, just weeks after the Land Transport Authority shelved plans for such a scheme. The listed bus and rail operator said that its ComfortConnect service has been available to residents in Tanjong Rhu and Meyer Road since Aug 15.

Other active stocks included Thomson Medical which rose 3.5 per cent, or 0.2 cent to 5.9 cents, and Sembcorp Marine which gained 1.7 per cent, or two cents to S$1.20.

Elsewhere, Asian stocks traded mixed on low volumes after a disappointing US manufacturing report dampened sentiment.

Japan's Topix lost 0.3 per cent as at 12.30pm. Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 1.2 per cent, and China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.2 per cent, while South Korea's Kospi rose 0.1 per cent.