[SINGAPORE] Singapore stocks extended the week’s gains to end higher on Thursday (Mar 27), with the Straits Times Index (STI) hitting a new high earlier in the day.
The STI reached as high as 3,991 points in the morning. At the close, the benchmark index was up 0.5 per cent or 17.86 points at 3,981.57.
Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 274 to 218, after one billion securities worth S$1.4 billion changed hands.
ST Engineering and Sembcorp Industries led gains in the first quarter of 2025, with analysts raising their 12-month consensus price targets for both counters, noted Geoff Howie, market strategist at the Singapore Exchange, in a LinkedIn post.
He added that in March, the industrials sector booked the most net institutional inflow, bucking the broader net outflows.
Industrials are benefiting from China’s efforts to strengthen regional supply chains with services-led growth, while the US is focused on reindustrialising through coordinated structural policies, he said.
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Meanwhile, Asean policymakers continue to bolster economic integration and movement of capital goods within the region.
Howie said: “This has put industrial value chains clearly in the frame, impacting engineering, construction, manufacturing and transportation-related industries.”
The top gainer on the STI was DFI Retail Group, which gained 2.1 per cent or US$0.05 to US$2.44.
Meanwhile, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was the biggest decliner, falling 0.8 per cent or S$0.02 to S$2.40.
The local banks ended higher. DBS added 0.4 per cent or S$0.19 to S$46.58, OCBC was up 0.8 per cent or S$0.13 at S$17.38, while UOB rose 1.1 per cent or S$0.41 to S$38.26.
Elsewhere in the region, key indices were mixed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.4 per cent, and the Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index gained 1.2 per cent.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.6 per cent, while South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.4 per cent.
