STI rallies after overnight Wall Street gains

OVERNIGHT Wall Street indices rallied and gave Singapore's Straits Times Index (STI) and regional key barometers reasons to be bullish on Oct 19.

STI rose 25.19 points or 0.79 per cent to 3,199.01 points.

Oanda senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley observed that Wall Street's three indices all closed higher, shrugging off weaker United States industrial production data and a flattening US yield curve, which indicated shorter-term inflationary pressures will continue rising.

He said the fact that the flattening is occurring at the shorter end of the yield curve and not the 10- to 30-year tenors has had markets assuming that the Federal Reserve has the longer-term inflation outlook under control.

Azeus Systems BBW saw its share price post gains of 10.9 per cent to S$8.35. Despite being under its 52-week high of S$10.06 - a level hit last week - the counter has skyrocketed from a low of S$1.30 a year ago and made remarkable gains in recent months. Azeus is an IT consultancy services provider that helps companies hold virtual shareholders' meetings with "live" Q&A and "live" electronic-voting functions.

Its major shareholder Lee Wan Lik had been approached by a third-party investor to explore an investment in Azeus, the company said in response to Singapore Exchange's query last week on "unusual price movements" in the counter. Lee said he has not entered into any specific discussions or signed any binding investment agreement with the third-party investor.

With the initial euphoria over the expanded quarantine-free travel scheme for travellers vaccinated against Covid-19 having subsided, national carrier Singapore Airlines C6L (SIA) shares have been unable to soar higher. It was down 0.54 per cent to S$5.48.

Analysts, while sanguine over the prospects for air travel, have recommended "sell" or "hold" for the airline, with some citing SIA's "rich valuations".

Decliners trailed gainers 216 to 286 on the broader market, with a turnover of 1.83 billion securities worth a total S$1.25 billion.