SINGAPORE – Singapore shares surged on Tuesday (Oct 29) following the long weekend, after a record setting market session for US stocks overnight on signs of progress in US-China trade talks and expectations of another Federal Reserve interest rate cut later this week.
The Straits Times Index gained 30.84 points or 0.97 per cent to 3,216.37 as at 9.06am.
About 85.3 million shares worth about $170.3 million changed hands, which worked out to an average unit price of about $2 per share.
Gainers outnumbered losers 121 to 51.
The most actively traded security was Golden-Agri Resources, unchanged at $0.22 after about 4.1 million shares changed hands.
Eagle Hospitality Trust jumped $0.045 or 8.3 per cent to $0.59 with 3.7 million shares traded.
Among financials, all three local banks gained ground with DBS advancing $0.27 or 1.1 per cent to $25.45 and OCBC shares gaining $0.10 or 0.9 per cent to $10.86. UOB outpaced its peers, jumping $0.56 or 2.2 per cent to $26.65.
Among other index stocks, SGX was up $0.23 or 2.6 per cent to $9.08 while Singtel was flat at $3.27 after 3.3 million shares changed hands.
Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.48 per cent or 109.60 points at 22,976.87 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.58 per cent or 9.58 points at 1,658.01.
Australia shares inched higher with the S&P/ASX 200 index up 0.2 per cent or 13 points at 6,753.70.
Wall Street surged on Monday on the renewed trade and stimulus hope with better-than-expected US corporate earnings adding to the momentum.
Fed chairman Jerome Powell is expected to deliver the third straight US interest rate on Wednesday. US President Donald Trump on Monday said a trade deal with China looked to be ahead of schedule, without detailing the timing, while the US also said it was considering extending tariff suspensions due to expire in December.
Companies in the S&P 500 are on track to see a decline of 3.7 per cent in the third quarter from the year-ago levels, but 80 per cent have reported better earnings per share than expected, according to Factset.
The broad-based S&P 500 finished at 3,039.42, a gain of 0.6 per cent from Friday’s close and about 14 points above the previous record set in late July.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5 per cent to finish the day at 27,090.72, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1 per cent to close at 8,325.99, also moving within a few points of a record.
European shares touched their highest level since January 2018 on Monday, boosted by car makers and miners on hopes that the United States and China were closer to getting a trade deal, while a drop in banks led by HSBC capped gains.
Among the major regional indexes, export-heavy Frankfurt-listed shares rose 0.4 per cent, while the pan-European Stoxx 600 index gained 0.3 per cent.