Singapore stocks gain as Asia nears decade highs

Singapore stocks eked out minor gains on Wednesday, with Asian equities trading near decade highs after Wall Street's rally to all-time highs as Catalan worries eased.

Singapore shares drop
A Singapore Exchange (SGX) sign sits outside its premises at the central business district in Singapore, January 18, 2016 Reuters

Singapore stocks eked out minor gains on Wednesday, with Asian equities trading near decade highs after Wall Street's rally to all-time highs as Catalan worries eased.

Asian shares rose while the euro hovered near a 10-day peak after Catalonia's leader talked down immediate plans to secede from Spain.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan nudged 0.24 percent higher to test a recent decade peak of 545.56.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said that while an October 1 referendum had given him the mandate to pursue independence, he would "suspend" the result for a period of some weeks for dialogue with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's administration.

At 0410 GMT, the Straits Times Index rose 0.07 percent or 2 points to 3,291. It ended 0.08 percent lower on Tuesday, taking the year-to-date performance to about 14 percent.

United Overseas Bank added 0.1 percent and Overseas-Chinese Banking Corp gained 0.2 percent but DBS Group Holdings dropped 0.2 percent.

Spackman Entertainment, a South Korean theatrical film production group, jumped about 4 percent after it entered into an agreement with four independent third parties to buy Korean film production company Take Pictures for S$3.9 million.

New Silkroutes Group climbed 6 percent after its unit Healthsciences International acquired 70 percent stakes in three dental clinics in Singapore for S$3.2 million to expand its healthcare business.

But China Jishan Holdings slumped 10 percent after it terminated an agreement to sell its stake in the real estate unit, raising concerns the company may lose its potential cash company status and suspend trading on the Singapore Exchange.

About 1.2 billion shares worth S$499 million changed hands, with gainers outnumbering losers 197 to 147.

READ MORE