STI up 1% on positive US earnings
Three local banks led the winners, with each finishing between 0.9% and 1.5% higher
Tracking stronger performances from the US markets on positive earnings news, the Straits Times Index (STI) rallied from its flat finish a day before to end higher yesterday.
It advanced 37.08 points or 1.1 per cent to end at 3,277.58. About 1.16 billion shares worth $965.9 million changed hands, versus 1.43 billion worth $1.02 billion on Wednesday.
Gainers outnumbered losers 228 to 159, or about 10 stocks up for every seven down.
All three banks finished higher, with United Overseas Bank ending 1.5 per cent or 39 Singapore cents higher at $26.28. DBS Bank gained 24 Singapore cents or 0.93 per cent to finish at $26.10, while Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation ended trading at $11.25, having gained 10 Singapore cents or 0.9 per cent.
Asia-Pacific Strategic Investments led the actives with 75.1 million shares changing hands, but ended trading flat at $0.002.
The investment holding company announced after market hours on Tuesday that it had issued 13,100 new ordinary shares on July 12. It then announced the release of another 13,408 ordinary shares on July 16 after Thursday's market close.
Shares of Wheelock Properties (Singapore) soared 44 Singapore cents or 25.3 per cent to $2.18 on the news that its Hong Kong-listed parent Wheelock and Company is offering $2.10 per share to take the property developer private.
Other property developers that have been rumoured to be going private also saw their share prices rise on the news. Wing Tai Holdings gained 4 per cent to $2.11, while Ho Bee Land Limited rose 2.5 per cent to $2.42.
CapitaLand Commercial Trust lost one Singapore cent or 0.57 per cent to end at $1.75, after it reported a 4 per cent fall in its distribution per unit to 2.16 Singapore cents for the fiscal second quarter of 2018.
Meanwhile, Venture Corp's share price fell by $0.20 or 1.18 per cent to $16.69, after Credit Suisse on Wednesday changed its rating for the technology products and solutions provider from "neutral" to "underperform".
Credit Suisse cut its target price for Venture to $14.50 from $24, saying: "While Venture has made credible efforts to develop next-gen products and drive margin improvement, we believe iQOS-led (smokeless tobacco device) revenue growth has peaked, and escalating trade tensions present downside risks to earnings outlook."
It noted that while customer orders have not changed materially since the start of the trade war rhetoric, they could be impacted if the next set of tariffs on US$200 billion of goods is finalised.
ASIA GLOOM
Most other Asian markets retreated, with only Malaysia ending higher. Australia rose on industrials and heavily weighted financials, while European markets saw prices fluctuate on mixed results from corporate earnings season.
In a morning note yesterday, Asia-Pacific ING head of research and chief economist Rob Carnell observed that most Asian macroeconomic news has been poor this month, even before the US-China tariffs fully kick in.
"Whatever the aggregate Asian story for June, the months that follow will be the real story to watch," he said.
"On the assumption that this isn't going to be pretty viewing, we have already been taking the knife to our Asian GDP forecasts, nudging up the near-term inflation outlook, and nudging down the longer-term inflation outlook," Mr Carnell added.
In the US, Morgan Stanley and other large banks lifted the financial sector with better-than-expected results, while the Nasdaq Composite Index closed just below a record of 7,855.12 set the previous day, ahead of results from major technology firms in the coming days.
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