STI records 4.2% gain this week

THE Straits Times Index (STI) kept its momentum to record its fourth day of increase on Thursday, as it ended the trading week up 49.5 points or 1.92 per cent at 2,624.23. 

This made for a 4.2 per cent increase over the course of the week, with Friday, being Labour Day and a trading holiday.

Sats, which recently did a bond issue on a private-placement basis to address its cash-crunch concerns, was the best performer among the index constituents. Its shares rose S$0.21 or 6.84 per cent to S$3.28.

ComfortDelgro, which on Wednesday launched a dedicated food-and-beverage delivery service by tying up with food establishments to do delivery runs and address the problem of dwindling passenger numbers faced by cabbies, rose S$0.10 or 6.45 per cent to S$1.65.

At the bottom of the STI's performance table was Thai Beverage. Its shares shed S$0.015 or 2.13 per cent to S$0.69, correcting from a steady rally that began in late March.

In all, advancers outnumbered decliners 312 to 113 for the day, with 1.58 billion shares worth S$2.44 billion changing hands - double the trading value on Wednesday.

The most heavily-traded stock was telco Singtel, after the Singapore government provisionally awarded the 5G spectrum to Singtel and a StarHub-M1 joint venture.

RHB and OCBC Investment Research continued to name Singtel as their preferred pick, with "buy" ratings maintained on it at target prices of S$3.30 and S$3.61 respectively. The telco's shares ended Thursday up S$0.03 or 1.07 per cent to S$2.83.

All Asian markets finished positive, with India's stock market as the star performer. The Nikkei 225 Index added 2.14 per cent, while the Hang Seng added 0.28 per cent. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index gained 1.99 per cent to 1,407.78 points.