SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) -Singapore shares rose for the sixth straight day on Tuesday, with the key Straits Times Index (STI) closing in on pulling off its best first-quarter showing in nine years.
After another record showing on Wall Street overnight and continued vaccine cheer, the STI gained 15.32 points or 0.48 per cent to 3,190.89. In the year to date, the index is up more than 12 per cent, outshining its regional peers.
Major Asian gauges in Japan, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and South Korea also logged gains, but Australia and Malaysia bucked the general trend to finish lower.
Turnover on the local bourse stood at 1.94 billion units worth $1.45 billion. DBS Bank, Thai Beverage and OCBC Bank led the gains. Among the STI constituents, 22 closed up, and seven down.
Sembcorp Marine was the day’s most active, with 386 million shares worth $65 million traded. The counter closed one cent higher or 6.2 per cent to 17.1 cents, partly led by news the day before that it had clinched a GBP600 million (S$1.11 billion) British wind farm contract, together with GE Renewable Energy’s Grid Solutions.
ST Engineering rose one cent or 0.3 per cent to $3.90. On Tuesday morning, the company said it raised its offer for the buyout of New York-listed Cubic Corp’s outstanding stock to US$78 per share from US$76 apiece, as a bidding war with private equity firms mounts over the defence and transit technology firm.
Penny stock Shen Yao Holdings, the day’s second most-active counter, inched up 0.1 cent to 0.5 cent. The gold miner, previously known as LionGold, said late on Monday that it plans to buy up to a 20.25 per cent stake in loss-making property analytics firm Real Estate Analytics for nearly $9 million to diversify its investment portfolio.
