Singapore, Malaysia shares snap six-day losing streak

KUALA LUMPUR (Nikkei Markets) — Singapore and Malaysia shares snapped a six-session losing streak Wednesday as banking stocks climbed on the back of broad Asian equities rally as investors bet that U.S.-China tensions will ease.

The Straits Times Index closed up 1.3% at 3099.99 and the FBM KLCI ended 0.6% higher at 1663.27. United Overseas Bank added 1.5% to lead other banks in Singapore, while CIMB Group Holdings added 4.4%, the biggest index gainer in Malaysia.

“Fed appears to have become slightly dovish, and as a result market expectations of future Fed rate hikes declined over the last few weeks,” said Nomura Equity Strategist Chetan Seth. “Oil prices are no longer rising, another positive for Asian economies, in general.”

The Nikkei Asia300 Index gained 1.4%. Investor sentiment surrounding Sino-American trade relations improved after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter that current talks with China were “very productive.”

Boosting sentiment further was news that Huawei Technologies’ Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou had been released on bail. Meng was arrested in Canada on Dec. 1 amid suspicion the telecommunications equipment maker violated U.S. sanctions on Iran.

News of the arrest, which came days after U.S. and China agreed to a temporary truce on the trade war, had raised doubts over prospects of any resolution to the months-long spat. Meanwhile, Chinese officials reportedly agreed to cut tariffs on imported American cars to 15% from 40% on Monday.

“Over and above the sentiment booster from the tweet (and) the slashing of car import tariffs indicates willingness from China to take concrete action,” said IG Asia Market Strategist Jingyi Pan.

In corporate news, City Developments rose 1.7% in Singapore after a unit of the real estate firm acquired a stake in Centro Investment Holding for S$29.3 million ($21.3 million).

Sunningdale Tech gained 2.2% after a unit’s proposed disposal of a property in China’s Guangdong Province for 145 million yuan ($21 million). The precision plastic components manufacturer said it will use the gains from the sale as additional working capital and to improve the group’s cashflow.

AirAsia Group fell 3.8%, while its long-haul affiliate AirAsia X dropped 2.1% after Malaysia Airports Holdings claimed uncollected passenger service charges totaling 36.12 million ringgit ($8.63 million) from the airlines.

Both companies had collected 50 ringgit per non-Asean international passenger, they said in separate exchange filings. But Malaysia Airports wanted them to collect another 23 ringgit per passenger effective Jul. 2018, it said.

Alam Maritim Resources rose 6.3% in Malaysia after the company announced a contract with undisclosed value from ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia.