SINGAPORE stocks registered a seven-day winning track on Wednesday (Aug 21).
The Straits Times Index (STI) gained 0.1 per cent or 3.45 points to 3,373.76. Across the broader market, gainers were almost even with losers at 266 to 267, with 848.9 million securities worth S$846.4 million having changed hands.
The market rally was lead by Sats, upon its Q1 earnings lifting investor sentiment. Its counter closed Wednesday up 11.5 per cent, or S$0.37, to S$3.59.
After the market closed the day before, the STI constituent airport service company reported a net profit of S$65 million for the quarter ended Jun 30, a turnaround from a loss of S$29.9 million in the same period the year before.
CGS International analysts Tay Wee Kuang and Lim Siew Khee raised Sats’ target price to S$4.10, with a maintained “buy” call; they have raised their earnings forecasts by 88.1 per cent for FY2025 on the back of the company’s better operating leverage to drive recovery of profitability back to pre-Covid levels.
Meanwhile, Venture Corporation was at the bottom of the list, closing the day down 0.8 per cent or S$0.12 to S$14.06 on a cum-dividend basis.
As investors took the cue from Wall Street, where the main indexes slipped after an eight-day advance, market sentiment turned cautious ahead of Jerome Powell’s speech in Wyoming.
Regional markets closed Wednesday mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index lost 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 0.7 per cent, and South Korea’s Kospi Composite Index edged up 0.2 per cent.
On the STI, the trio of local banks all closed in the red. UOB was down 0.4 per cent, or S$0.11, to S$30.68. OCBC lost 0.3 per cent, or S$0.04, at S$14.34, and DBS dropped 0.2 per cent, or S$0.07, at S$35.78.
