SINGAPORE - The blue-chip barometer Straits Times Index (STI) inched up 0.1 per cent or four points to 4,269.98 points on Monday (Sep 29), buoyed by a confluence of domestic policy support and positive regional sentiment.

Across the broader market, gainers beat decliners 355 to 244 amid a high trading volume of 2.2 billion with a total transaction value of $1.7 billion.

Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at Phillip Nova, pointed out that the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s $5 billion equity‑market programme (alongside tax and listings incentives) continues to act as a confidence anchor, encouraging asset managers to rotate capital into local stocks.

“The surge in trading volumes past the two-billion mark reflects investors’ confidence in Singapore’s stability and growth, with softer returns from fixed income assets nudging more funds into equities. At the same time, investors are receiving tailwinds from broader Asia‑Pacific markets, where risk appetite is improving on easing fears of a global slowdown and more stable United States rate expectations,” she added.

However, Singtel shares closed $0.14 or 3.3 per cent lower at $4.12 after its Australian subsidiary Optus encountered another outage over the weekend, making it the worst STI performer.

On Sep 27, the unit suffered an outage that affected some 4,500 customers and disrupted calls made between 3 am and 12.20 pm – including emergency calls. This latest outage comes as a Singtel delegation meets Australia Communications Minister Anika Wells this week to discuss the fallout from an earlier Optus outage on Sep 18.

Addvalue Technologies shares, meanwhile, clocked a $0.003 or 10.7 per cent increase to $0.031 after it announced last Friday of US$3 million orders win, bringing its order book to stand at US$18.1 million.

The mainboard-listed communications technology products developer, which is on the watch list for having logged three consecutive years of pre-tax losses, was the most actively traded stock with 198.9 million shares changing hands.

Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.9 per cent up, South Korea’s Kospi Index rose 1.3 per cent, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index finished trading 0.9 per cent higher.

THE BUSINESS TIMES

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