SINGAPORE: Singapore shares rebounded yesterday following two straight days of losses amid a mixed showing across Asia. The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) rose 32.07 points, or 1.07 per cent, to 3,025.07 – up 62.44 points or 2.11 per cent for the week. A total of 1.7 billion shares worth $1.11 billion were traded.
This came even as Wall Street slid 0.32 per cent overnight alongside a weaker greenback. Traders were clearly disappointed by the lack of policy detail in United States President-elect Donald Trump’s first press conference. Dealers noted the positive buying momentum here was boosted by sidelined monies tipping back into “worst-is-over trades”, said NetResearch Asia in a note.
The STI’s performance yesterday was mostly boosted by all three local banks, led by DBS Group Holdings, which added 19 cents or 1 per cent to $18.31. OCBC Bank advanced 13 cents or 1.4 per cent to $9.38, while United Overseas Bank climbed 16 cents or 0.8 per cent to $21.03. Property giant CapitaLand added four cents or 1.3 per cent to $3.17. CapitaLand Mall Asia announced early yesterday its wholly owned unit, CapitaMalls Asia Treasury, has redeemed all of the $400 million, 3.8 per cent callable step-up bonds due 2022.
Meanwhile, the telcos also fared well on news that M1 and StarHub have signed a memorandum of understanding to study potential further collaboration in mobile infrastructure sharing.
M1 grew two cents or 1 per cent to $2.10 and StarHub jumped 11 cents or 3.8 per cent to $3.03. DBS analyst Vijay Natarajan upgraded both stocks to “hold”, noting this could spell 20 per cent in capital expenditure savings for the two companies from 2018 onwards.
