[SINGAPORE] Singapore stocks ended higher on Friday (Oct 16), as investors digested a stronger-than-expected surge in non-oil domestic exports (NODX), while palm oil counters came under pressure amid scrutiny over haze-causing fires.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) gained 0.2 per cent or 12.03 points to finish at 5,415.53.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding led the gainers on Singapore’s blue-chip index, rising 3.6 per cent or S$0.18 to S$5.21.

The worst performer among STI constituents was Jardine Matheson, which fell 4.2 per cent or US$2.46 to US$55.58.

The three local banks ended mixed. DBS rose 0.5 per cent or S$0.36 to S$74.11 and OCBC edged up 0.03 per cent or S$0.01 to S$29.00, while UOB finished 0.2 per cent or S$0.08 lower at S$41.61.

Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 366 to 193, after 1.2 billion securities worth S$2.1 billion changed hands.

Singapore’s NODX surged 68.4 per cent year on year in September, more than double the 32.2 per cent consensus forecast in a Bloomberg poll of private sector economists.

The latest showing, driven by both electronics and non-electronics shipments, extended August’s revised 46.1 per cent expansion and was the strongest since February 1980.

Palm oil producers were meanwhile among the counters in focus after Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said Singapore was looking into which companies may be responsible for haze-causing fires, and could take action under the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act where warranted.

First Resources fell 6.9 per cent to S$3.80, while Bumitama Agri lost 4.8 per cent to S$1.78 and Golden Agri-Resources slid 3.5 per cent to S$0.28.

First Resources had said on Thursday that fires detected within its Indonesian palm oil concessions were largely caused by external blazes spreading across its boundaries, amid heightened fire risks in West Kalimantan.

Key regional indices were mixed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.5 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.4 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi climbed 2.1 per cent. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI fell 1 per cent.

This article was written with the assistance of AI and reviewed by a reporter