Singapore's STI rises but defensive tone persists

Singapore's STI is up 0.4% at 3,458.23, tracking Tuesday's gains on Wall Street as investors cheer signals that the Federal Reserve remains far from winding down its bond purchases and a bullish stock-market outlook from Goldman Sachs.

The STI touches a high of 3,464.79 but SIAS Research's Ng Kian Teck says a close above the 3,460 level is important as other markets in Asia are by and large flat. He says investors are looking at defensive, high yielding counters just now.

SingTel (Z74.SG) is up 1.5% at $4.04 while Keppel Corp. (BN4.SG) is up 0.8% at $11.11. Commodities stocks are higher with Golden Agri-Resources (E5H.SG) up 2.6% at $0.585 and Wilmar International (F34.SG) adding 0.9% at $3.42.