China plays including Hengxin, Bright World, China Essence and China Sun see heavy trading

SINGAPORE investors got a taste of joy yesterday as the clouds cleared after a run of uncertainty due to inflation jitters and fears of a missile test by North Korea in the early part of the week. The Straits Times Index rose 1.3 per cent to end at 2,359.55 points, buoyed by positive news in other markets.

Stocks here were boosted by a rally in US markets overnight, where healthy earnings reports appeared to relieve worries that rising interest rates there would slam the brakes on growth in companies' profits.

By the time trading paused for lunch at 12.30pm, the STI had already climbed 1.2 per cent to 2,358.61 points, up 29.01 points from yesterday's close. The market's rise was given further impetus in the afternoon by a strong finish in Japan, where the Nikkei-225 Index soared 3.4 per cent.

Overall, gainers outnumbered losers 463 to 129 on the Singapore Exchange.

MediaRing saw the most action, with 31.1 million shares changing hands by the time the market closed. Its share price shot up 9 per cent to close at 36.5 cents on speculation that the company would make a higher bid for Nasdaq-listed Pacific Internet. At a press conference convened yesterday after the market close, MediaRing said it had revised its offer for PacNet to US$9.50 per share from US$8.25 previously.

China stocks were again a market favourite, featuring strongly among the most heavily traded stocks. Telecommunications equipment maker Hengxin rose again in a second day of high-volume trading, ending the day 2.2 per cent higher at 46.5 cents, with 27.6 million shares changing hands. Other heavily traded China stocks included Bright World, China Essence, China Sun and Landwind Medical, all of which gained between 2.2 per cent and 5.7 per cent.

Pacific Century Regional Developments (PCRD) opened 9.2 per cent higher at 35.5 cents and hit a high of 38 cents just past 9am. An hour later, trading was halted for the third time this week at the company's request, with the last trade at 36.5 cents, 12.3 per cent up from Tuesday's close.

PCRD's shares had been suspended on Wednesday after surging 10.2 per cent on Tuesday amid a fierce bidding war for the telco and media assets of its Hong Kong associate PCCW, Hong Kong's largest phone company.

Shares in property group CapitaLand rose 22 cents or 5.2 per cent to an intra-day high of $4.42 but fell back slightly to close at $4.36, after it issued an announcement at midday to clarify that it had no links to a similarly named property company listed in Hong Kong. Other large percentage gainers in the STI were rice-cracker maker Want Want (4.6 per cent), Thai mobile phone operator Total Access Communications (4.1 per cent) and global supply chain manager Noble Group (3.6 per cent).

Technology stocks also gained, riding on positive tech sentiment in the region. Creative rose 3.1 per cent to $8.30, Chartered Semiconductor rose 2.2 per cent to $1.39 and United Test and Assembly Centre rose 2.6 cents to 79 cents.