Singapore stocks extend Friday's rally; ComfortDelGro jumps 5%

Singapore shares advanced on Monday, on course to extend previous sessions' 1.1 percent gain amid optimism about global growth.

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Singapore shares advanced on Monday, on course to extend previous sessions' 1.1 percent gain amid optimism about global growth.

Asian shares were buoyant following strong U.S payrolls data and better-than-expected Chinese trade data on Friday.

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.4 percent, staying well above a recent two-month trough of 542.27 points.

At 0510 GMT, the Straits Times Index climbed 0.62 percent or 21 points to 3,445. It ended 1.1 percent higher on Friday, taking the year-to-date performance to about 19 percent.

Shares of United Overseas Bank Ltd rose as much as 2.6 percent, their biggest intraday spike in over seven months. Oversea-Chinese Banking added 0.7 percent while DBS Group Holdings advanced 0.5 percent.

The city-state's top taxi operator ComfortDelGro Corp was the best performer on the index, climbing as much as 4.7 percent after it said on Friday it would buy a 51 percent stake in a unit of Uber .

London-listed hotel arm Millennium & Copthorne Hotels agreed accepted about 2 billion pounds (S$3.63 billion) offer from its majority shareholder City Developments after an earlier bid was rebuffed by minority investors. Shares in City Developments rose 1 percent.

About 679 million shares worth S$425 million changed hands, with gainers outnumbering losers 180 to 163.

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