SINGAPORE stocks closed higher on Friday (May 10), tracking a broader regional rally.
The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) climbed 0.8 per cent or 24.75 points to close at 3,290.70. The market barometer was little changed over the trading week.
Just two STI counters ended in the red on Friday, with Seatrium : 5E2 0%falling 5.4 per cent to S$1.76, while UOB : U11 0%slipped 0.03 per cent to finish at S$30.34. The other banks closed higher, with DBS : D05 0%shares rising 0.3 per cent to S$35.40, and OCBC : O39 0%up 1.5 per cent to S$14.12.
Hongkong Land : H78 0% finished as the top STI gainer for the day, climbing 2.5 per cent to US$3.35.
Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 380 to 224 after 1.3 billion securities worth S$1.2 billion changed hands.
Dyna-Mac : NO4 0%, which has a market capitalisation of around S$380 million, was the most actively traded counter by volume, with 262.5 million shares worth S$104.6 million transacted. It rose 2.8 per cent to close at S$0.37.
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Keppel said in a bourse filing after markets closed that it had divested its entire 23.9 per cent stake in Dyna-Mac to two units of South Korean conglomerate Hanwha for an aggregate consideration of S$100 million.
Elsewhere in the region, key indices in Australia, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong all posted gains on Friday, rising between 0.4 and 2.3 per cent, following a positive overnight performance on Wall Street.
Vasu Menon, managing director for investment strategy at OCBC, observed that the performance of markets so far this year suggested that many may be putting too much emphasis on interest rates as a driver of market performance.
“We feel that the volatility and intermittent sharp drawdowns can offer opportunities for investors with the risk appetite and patience to take a medium-term view,” he said.
“The broader medium-term outlook remains positive given decent economic and earnings fundamentals, and also because there is lots of dry powder that could offer firepower in time.”
