ST Engineering drives gains for Singapore shares on Monday; STI up 0.3%
SINGAPORE stocks ended higher on Monday (Mar 3), tracking gains on Wall Street.
The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.3 per cent or 13.22 points to 3,908.92. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 308 to 257, after two billion securities worth S$1.8 billion changed hands.
ST Engineering led gains on the STI, with the counter up 8.5 per cent or S$0.46 at S$5.87. The company’s shares are up 26 per cent year to date. Several analysts have raised their target price on ST Engineering, citing its strong growth prospects.
Meanwhile, the theme of leadership surrounded the companies that were the top two losers on the STI on Monday.
Genting Singapore was the top decliner, falling 2.7 per cent or S$0.02 to S$0.71.
Shares of the integrated resorts operator have fallen since Friday, following news that the current patriarch of the family-run business, Lim Kok Thay, will step down as chief executive of Malaysia’s Genting after nearly two decades at the helm.
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Also in the red was property developer City Developments Ltd (CDL), which lost 2.3 per cent or S$0.12 to end at S$5.
Earlier on Monday, the counter fell as much as 7 per cent to its lowest since 2009. It resumed trading after a three-day halt, amid news of a father-son tussle for board control at the group majority owned by the Kwek family.
Executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng said in a statement on Feb 26 that he had filed a court action to deal with an “attempted coup” by his son and CDL CEO Sherman Kwek, as well as Philip Lee Jee Cheng, Wong Ai Ai and directors acting with them.
Sherman Kwek subsequently issued a statement on behalf of the majority of CDL’s board, expressing his disappointment at his father’s “extreme actions”.
The conflict moves into Singapore’s Supreme Court on Mar 4, when a closed-door case conference will be heard.
The three local banks ended mixed on Monday. UOB gained 0.4 per cent to S$38.35, OCBC was flat at S$17.21, while DBS fell 0.3 per cent to S$45.77.
Elsewhere in the region, the Hang Seng Index rose 0.3 per cent, Nikkei 225 was up 1.7 per cent, but FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI lost 0.2 per cent.
