STI rises 0.6% as banking shares make strong gains amid mixed Asia markets

SINGAPORE stocks were close to a record high on Thursday (Dec 5) morning, but eased by the close.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) rose 22.74 points or 0.6 per cent to 3,822.68. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 280 to 244 with 1.1 billion securities worth S$1.4 billion traded.

Earlier in the day, the STI rose to 3,842.08, putting it on track to break the last record high of 3,906.16 in 2007.

At the close, the top gainer on the STI was Hongkong Land, which gained 4 per cent or US$0.18 to US$4.69.

The real estate group is reportedly considering selling its closely held property developer arm MCL Land, at a premium to its book value of S$1.1 billion, said people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg said on Thursday.

DFI Retail Group was the biggest decliner, falling 3.9 per cent or US$0.10 to US$2.44.

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The three local banks were a sea of green. DBS was up 1 per cent or S$0.44 to S$44.26, UOB climbed 1.4 per cent or S$0.50 to S$37.15, while OCBC rose 0.4 per cent or S$0.07 to S$16.37.

In economic data released on Thursday, Singapore’s retail sales grew 2.2 per cent on year in October, picking up from the 1.9 per cent growth recorded the month before.

Selena Ling, chief economist at OCBC, said: “Notably, retail sales excluding autos had been falling year on year for four consecutive months prior to the October turnaround, so the question is whether this positive trend would sustain.”

Elsewhere in the region, key indices ended mixed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.9 per cent, and South Korea’s Kospi Composite was down 0.9 per cent; Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.3 per cent and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 0.1 per cent.