SINGAPORE, Sep 2 (Reuters) – Singapore shares rose 1 percent in the morning session on Thursday on better-than-expected factory data from the United States and China, and are seen hovering around the 3,000 level after the break.
By the midday break, the Straits Times Index (STI) .FTSTI was up 8.80 points at 2,991.63. More than 305 million shares had changed hands.
“At this point in time I believe the STI performance is very U.S-driven. Yesterday we saw a slew of pretty decent data from the U.S,” said Phua Ming-Weii, an investment analyst at PhillipCapital.
“At the current levels we are looking at a test of the 3,000 mark. There is quite heavy resistance at this level and the price has overdone itself a little bit. It has gone from the 2,925 region to 3,000 in the span of about a day and a half,” he said.
He added that the mid-term trend seems to point upwards, but cautioned that if the market falls below the 2,910 level this trend may change.
Local traders said the STI may trade within the 2980-3,020 range after the break.
Shares of Chinese shipbuilder Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (YAZG.SI) and Singapore oil and gas services firm Baker Technology (BATE.SI) rose after an amended agreement involving the sale of assets by Baker to Yangzijiang. [ID:nSGE68102M]
At midday, shares of Yangzijiang were up 0.6 percent at S$1.61 and Baker Tech gained 2.3 percent to S$0.445.
Casino operator Genting Singapore (GENS.SI) underperformed the market, falling as much as 2.2 percent in morning trade due to profit-taking, after rising over 10 percent earlier in the week. [ID:nSGE68103D]
Shares of Genting Singapore were trading at S$1.77 and more than 190 million shares had changed hands.
(Reporting by Eveline Danubrata; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
