STI recovers previous session's losses to close 1.3% higher on Thursday

Singapore's Straits Times Index (STI) pared Wednesday's losses in what was a rare ho-hum session by recent standards, closing 31.88 points or 1.3 per cent higher to 2,571.32 on Thursday.

Of the STI's 30 counters, seven finished in the red.

Looking down the road, market sentiment will continue to depend on whether Covid-19 infection rates have peaked globally. On Friday at least, investors in Asia will be looking to US jobless claims figures for clues to the health of the US labour force and whether Opec (The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and other key producers can reach a deal to cut output.

Noting the importance of these outcomes, Oanda's Asia-Pacific senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley pointed out that it could dictate sentiment at the tail end of the week.

Given the recent market volatility, he said: "In a nutshell, the event and data risks have the potential in the near-term to send the recovery trade soaring to new heights, or send it all the way back to square one."

Benchmarks elsewhere in Asia were mostly up with China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand posting gains. The Nikkei 225 Index bucked the trend in back-to-back sessions, edging down 7.47 points or 0.04 per cent to 19,345.77.

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Jardine C&C was the best performing STI constituent on the day, adding US$0.79 or 4 per cent to US$20.42. Another strong performer was Singtel. Singapore's largest telco closed S$0.10 or 3.8 per cent up at S$2.71.

Singapore's banking trio outperformed the benchmark. DBS Group Holdings gained S$0.31 or 1.6 per cent to S$19.14; OCBC Bank climbed S$0.14 or 1.6 per cent up at S$8.95, and United Overseas Bank ended at S$20.17, up S$0.27 or 1.4 per cent.

Among real estate investment trusts (Reits), a late dip saw units in CapitaLand Commercial Trust (CCT) finish S$0.01 or 0.7 per cent lower at S$1.46.

UOB Kay Hian analysts Jonathan Koh and Loke Peihao noted that while demand for office space is affected by the Covid-19 induced slowdown, they are expecting office Reits like CCT and Keppel Reit (up S$0.03 or 3.3 per cent to S$0.95) to be more resilient to their retail- and hospitality-focused counterparts.

Across the Singapore market, advancers trumped decliners 334 to 130, with 1.69 billion securities valued at S$1.43 billion traded.