Singapore stocks rise, STI up 0.5% amid mixed markets

SINGAPORE – Local shares ended Oct 23 higher, even as markets across the region ended mixed.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.5 per cent, or 22.35 points, to close at 4,416.27.

Across the broader market, advancers outnumbered decliners 370 to 196, after 1.4 billion securities worth $1.2 billion changed hands.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was the day’s top blue-chip gainer, rising 2.1 per cent, or seven cents, to $3.34.

Jardine Matheson was the index’s biggest decliner, falling 0.4 per cent, or 23 US cents, to US$62.55.

The counter continued its fall after recording the biggest gains on the STI on Oct 21, when it rose 7.8 per cent, or US$4.77, to US$65.90.

Casino operator Genting Singapore was the most actively traded counter on the STI by volume, with 65.9 million units worth $48.6 million traded. The counter rose 1.4 per cent, or one cent, to 74 cents.

Key indexes in the region were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 1.4 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi fell 1 per cent. Australia’s ASX 200 inched up 0.03 per cent, while the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 0.3 per cent.

The mixed trade comes as Wall Street closed lower the day before, on the back of disappointing earnings from companies including Netflix.

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