SGX pauses at over 2-year peak; Singapore Airlines climbs 3%

Singapore stocks were little changed on Wednesday as investors paused after the index jumped to more than a two-year high in the previous session.

SGX
Reuters

Singapore stocks were little changed on Wednesday as investors paused after the index jumped to more than a two-year high in the previous session.

Asian shares paused at decade peaks amid concerns Republican plans for major U.S. tax cuts were running into headwinds even before the Senate releases its own version of the proposals, Reuters reported.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.05 percent having hit its highest since November 2007 on Tuesday.

At 0500 GMT, the Straits Times Index edged up 0.01 percent or 0.33 point to 3,413. It ended 0.92 percent higher on Tuesday, taking the year-to-date performance to about 18 percent.

DBS Group Holdings rose 0.8 percent, United Overseas Bank gained 0.2 percent while Oversea-Chinese Bank dropped 0.3 percent.

Singapore Airlines advanced 2.8 percent after its second-quarter net profit jumped about 193 percent, helped by strong performance of Parent Airline and SIA Cargo.

Perennial Real Estate Holdings reported a surge in third-quarter profit, boosted by share of results from its associated company, Yanlord Perennial Investment, which launched an offer for United Engineers. But the stock fell 0.5 percent.

Realty company CapitaLand reported a 28 percent rise in third-quarter profit, helped by fair value and portfolio gains. The stock fell 1 percent.

Singapore Technologies Engineering posted a 67 percent jump in the third-quarter net profit due to the absence of a one-off charge incurred in the same period last year. The shares, however, fell 1.4 percent.

About 1.2 billion shares worth S$624 million changed hands, with losers outnumbering gainers 219 to 155.

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