STI up 0.75 per cent to 2,563.20

THE Straits Times Index (STI) inched up 0.75 per cent to 2,563.20 on Wednesday, but the number of decliners slightly outstripped the number of advancers in the broader market.

Mainboard-listed agri-business group Wilmar International was among the better performing STI constituents with a 2.1 per cent increase to S$4.79, after delivering a 38.7 per cent increase in its net profit from continuing operations for the half year to June 30. RHB Securities Singapore analyst Juliana Cai maintained her "buy" recommendation on the stock with a target price of S$5.45 in a report published on Wednesday. She noted that the results were better than expectations. 

Wilmar was trading cum-dividend with an interim payout of four Singapore cents.

Top Glove topped the decliners chart with a loss of S$0.84 to end at S$8.19. The dual-listed glove maker saw its stock price go into reverse gear on Tuesday, and the descent continued on Wednesday. The selling pressure came after Top Glove announced on Monday that it expects to pay about RM53 million (S$17.3 million) in remediation fees to migrant workers it employed before it implemented a new standard for ethical recruitment last year.

A total of 1.63 billion securities worth S$1.63 billion were traded.

The most heavily traded stock was Medtecs International, as its price rose 44.6 per cent to S$1.41 on a trading volume of over 150.5 million units, after posting a half-year net profit that was more than 100 times higher than last year's.

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Meanwhile, Asian markets have largely performed better, despite Wall Street ended in the red the preceding night.  

South Korean shares rose for the eighth straight session with the Kospi up 0.57 per cent at 2,432.35, its highest close since June 12, 2018. The Hang Seng Index rose 1.42 per cent to 25,244.02 points - an almost three-week high. 

The Jakarta Composite Index gained 0.83 per cent to close at 5,233.45 points while its Japanese counterpart, the Nikkei 225 Index, rose 0.41 per cent  to close at 22,843.96 points.

The Shanghai Composite Index dipped 0.63 per cent to 3,319.27 while the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index lost 0.52 per cent to 1,556.64 points. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index shed 0.11 per cent to close at 6,132.05.