SINGAPORE: Singapore stocks rallied, tracking the overnight performance of Europe as well as the US after the European Central Bank expanded its bond-buying programme. Oil value ascended after Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah died.
At 12:55 p.m., the benchmark STI was up 38.37 points or 1.14% to 3,408.66, hitting its highest in more than 1 1/2 years in the broader market, more than 1 billion shares valued at $750 million changed hands. Gainers outnumbered losers 269 to 127.
Among the heavyweights, banks DBS (Financial Dashboard) and UOB (Financial Dashboard) gained 26 cents and 20 cents respectively to $20.26 and $23.70. Supply chain manager Noble added 1.5 cents to $1.07 while Telco SingTel (Financial Dashboard) added 3 cents to $3.99 and developer CapitaLand added 5 cents to $3.47.
Top decliners included Keppel Infrastructure Trust, Maple tree Logistics Trust and Keppel REIT all of which retreated to $1.065, $1.23 and $1.235 respectively after going XD.