Singapore stocks track regional gains following Fed meeting; STI up 0.9%

SINGAPORE shares rose along with most Asian markets on Thursday, tracking gains overnight on Wall Street, as investors cheered the accommodative stance taken by the US Federal Reserve.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.9 per cent or 28.01 points to 3,137.66. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 308 to 183 after 2.96 billion securities worth S$1.73 billion changed hands.

IG senior market strategist Pan Jingyi said: "The March Federal Open Market Committee meeting had played out largely in line with expectations where no changes to monetary policy had been seen while the projections for the US economy, including GDP (gross domestic product) and inflation, had been revised upwards."

She added that the "perfect duo of better economic growth projections and lower rates for longer expectations by the Fed had once again injected confidence into the market".

Jardine Matheson Holdings was the top gainer on the STI on Thursday, rising 5 per cent or US$3.20 to US$67.40. Other top performers were Genting Singapore, which rose 2.2 per cent; and Jardine Cycle & Carriage, which climbed 1.9 per cent.

Just three STI counters ended in the red on Thursday. Keppel Corp finished at the bottom of the performance table, falling 0.4 per cent to S$5.13.

Jiutian Chemical was one of the most actively traded counters by volume on Thursday, with its shares falling 3.3 per cent to 8.7 Singapore cents, after 191.1 million shares were traded.

Elsewhere in Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Japan climbed 1 per cent to 30,216.75, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.3 per cent to 29,405.72 and South Korea's Kospi gained 0.6 per cent to 3,066.01.

Bucking the trend were Australia shares, with the ASX 200 falling 0.7 per cent to 6,745.9.