Senior Correspondent
Bookmark & Share
AFTER a slow start in the morning, the Singapore market perked up during the afternoon session following positive starts in Europe, and ended the session in positive territory, buoyed by gains in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
But brokers here said there was noticeable caution in the air following two weeks of sharp gains which has lifted the benchmark Singapore market index some 17.5 per cent.
The Straits Times index bounced off a morning low at 2,632.98, making its way up through the late morning and afternoon, to finally end the session with a net 22.44 point gain at 2,681.64 points.
Activity was decent, with some 2.4 billion units worth some $1.9 billion changing hands as gainers led losers by 363 to 159.
OCBC ended two cents down despite reporting better-than-expected 9.6 per cent rise in second-quarter profit to $466 million, from $425 million a year earlier.
Market insiders cited concerns about the impact on the bank's third quarter results from subsidiary Great Eastern's decision to pay out an estimated $250 million to some 18,000 policyholders who had invested in its Greatlink Choice product
Meanwhile, United Overseas Bank recovered from a low of $17.24 to end with a net two cents loss at $17.66, while DBS Bank rose from $13.70 to close with a six cents gain at $13.94.
Property stocks were largely buoyant, although CapitaLand tripped somewhat during the late afternoon on funds-led follow-through selling from last Friday after the company provided a cautious forward earnings guidance. Still, the region's largest property stock ended the session a cent higher at $3.83.
Meanwhile City Developments was up 16 cents to $10.30 amid more positive reports on the sector.
In a report last week, Goldman Sachs painted a bullish prognosis for the Singapore property market.
'The critical mass of mega projects should enhance the state as a 'global city' of choice for business and tourism, leading to a broadening out of the property sector recovery,' the report said.
'Inherent IR advantages include a large tourism captive market, first class transport and competitive gaming tax rates. We think recent data points suggesting a pick up in foreign buying may hold the key to the sustainability of the residential recovery, underpinning the strong latent local demand.'
With many blue chips already reaching 12-month highs, a lot of interest seems to have shifted to second liners and penny stocks, brokers said.
Ezion Holdings continued its steady climb, ending the session with a four-cent gain at 74 cents, while Falcon Energy was up another 5.5 cents to 77 cents.
Rotary Engineering, whose orderbook is now well over a record $1.5 billion, continued powering its way up, gaining another 13 cents to a record $1.15, and fuelling speculation of a potential cash call.
Crane giant Tat Hong, which announced a $65 million investment by Asian boutique fund AIF Capital Asia III, gained three cents to $1.11 on 1.6 million shares traded.
Also attracting some attention was Healthway Medical Group, whose stock rose to as high as 12.5 cents on strong volume, before closing at 12 cents.
Search Property News
