S'pore shares steady as upbeat China data lends

SINGAPORE – Singapore shares were steady after a four-day losing streak, supported by positive sentiment in the regional market after China released upbeat trade data.

The benchmark Straits Times Index was little changed at 3,115.40 by 0557 GMT (1.57pm local time), rebounding from a near three-month low of 3,098.80 hit last Friday.

The improving macroeconomic conditions around the world are lending support to Singapore’s stock market, said DBS Vickers analysts.

“With the macro backdrop improving, being an export driven country, Singapore is poised to benefit from the improved global outlook,” they said in a research note.

The analysts expected the index to rise to 3,290, but said this may not happen by the end of the year due to a seasonal trading lull. Trading volume was less than half of its 30-day average daily turnover, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Blumont Group Ltd, which was one of the companies in the spotlight after their share prices tumbled in early October following massive rises earlier in the year, rose 25 percent to S$0.081. The stock had shed more than 40 percent last week.

Investors have been waiting for Blumont to clarify whether Alexander Molyneux, a mining industry veteran who said he would buy 135 million shares in the company, had completed the transaction, since the deadline for the deal was last Friday.

Asiasons Capital Ltd, another stock in the centre of the penny stock saga, requested a trading halt earlier in the day.