STI closes at record high of 4,010.77 as investors seek safe haven

The index closes 0.5% higher while across the broader market, gainers beat decliners 302 to 186 after 1.3 billion securities worth S$1.5 billion were transacted

Singapore’s benchmark index reached a milestone on Wednesday (Jul 2), breaching the 4,000-point threshold at the close.

The Straits Times Index (STI) achieved a record high of 4,010.77, up 0.53 per cent or 21.01 points as Singapore attracts investors seeking safe haven from geopolitical risks.

Other regional bourses, as well as Wall Street last night, closed mixed.

Over in the city-state, gainers beat decliners 302 to 186 across the broader market as 1.3 billion securities worth S$1.5 billion were transacted.

Property company UOL led the rise on STI, logging a 7 per cent or S$0.44 increase to a 52-week high of S$6.70, after the court on Tuesday approved the S$810 million en bloc sale of Thomson View to UOL, CapitaLand Development and Singapore Land.

The court’s approval also lifted the shares of Singapore Land by 3.6 per cent or S$0.08 to S$2.33.

Del Monte Pacific shares tanked 4.7 per cent or S$0.003 to a 52-week low of S$0.061, after the food manufacturer lifted a trading halt upon announcing it had transferred its 25 per cent equity in its US subsidiary Del Monte Foods Holding to the unit’s lenders following its decision not to provide it with funding.

Del Monte Foods, meanwhile, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US. Del Monte Pacific also said it is in the process of assessing the financial impact that the deconsolidation of the subsidiary might have on the group as well as any value to be impaired, given it has over US$700 million exposure to the unit.

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