STI finishes the week down 1.15%

THE Straits Times Index (STI) rose 14.36 points or 0.55 per cent to finish at 2,604.51 on Friday, ending the week 1.15 per cent lower than a week ago, as the benchmark index see-sawed through a series of election news and continued fears of a second wave of the Covid-19 virus.

On Friday, some 5.45 billion shares changed hands - an unusually high volume - although it appears that most of the activity was centred on penny stocks, as the securities traded were worth only S$986.64 million in all.

Indeed, the top three most active counters of the day were all penny stocks. Abalone producer Oceanus closed flat at S$0.004, with 3.5 billion shares changing hands as a new shareholder group led by Alacrity Investment Group acquired a significant stake through a married deal with the group's former major creditor, Ocean Wonder International. 

Disclosures filed to the Singapore Exchange (SGX) showed Alacrity beefing up its investment from 7.2 per cent to 14.54 per cent for a consideration of S$3.2 million.

Marine Logistics group Marco Polo Marine added S$0.002 or 15.39 per cent to S$0.015, with 107.9 million shares changing hands. This was on the news this week of its Group chief executive Sean Lee boosting his stake in the company from 4.59 per cent to 4.71 per cent via two separate market transactions on June 23 and 24.

Air-conditioning contractor Progen added S$0.031 or 182.35 per cent to S$0.048, earning it a query from the Singapore Exchange. More than 95 million shares changed hands.

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The best performer on the STI on Friday was agribusiness group Wilmar International, still riding on optimism that the spin-off of its Chinese unit on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange will go through before the year is out. Its shares added S$0.09 or 2.21 per cent to S$4.17.

Regional markets mostly finished higher, except for the Hang Seng, which fell 0.93 per cent and the KLCI, which dipped 0.07 per cent. The Nikkei 225 rose 1.13 per cent, and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.3 per cent on Friday.