Singapore stocks advance; DBS, Noble Group top gainers

SGX
An electric display chart showing the afternoon trading trend of the blue chip Hang Seng Index is seen through a camera at a brokerage in Hong Kong, China. REUTERS

Singapore shares extended gains on Wednesday after hitting more than a 10-year peak in the previous session, led by DBS Group and Noble.

Asian shares took a breather after the indexes climbed to record highs in the previous session following a deal to end a U.S government shutdown.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.2 percent, having jumped 1.2 percent on Tuesday to an all-time peak. Japan's Nikkei lost 0.8 percent as the yen strengthened, though that was from a 26-year top, Reuters data showed.

The Straits Times Index ended up 0.48 percent or 17 points to 3,609. It ended 0.63 percent higher on Tuesday, taking the year-to-date gains to about 6 percent.

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The city-state's top lenders Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp edged up 0.2 percent, DBS Group Holdings gained 1.3 percent and United Overseas Bank added 0.07 percent.

Active stocks included, Midas Holdings climbing 5.6 percent to S$0.17 while Adventus Holdings lost 18 percent to S$0.01 in afternoon trades.

Shares in CapitaLand Mall Trust Management rose about 1 percent after reported a 0.7 percent rise in fourth-quarter distribution per unit

Noble gained 6 percent amid report China's Cedar Holdings was interested in buying the commodities trader.

But telecom services provider M1 lost 0.5 percent after it reported a 2.5 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit.

About 2.2 billion shares worth S$1.6 billion changed hands, with losers outnumbering gainers 252 to 210.

This article was first published on January 24, 2018
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