REITs are among the biggest gainers on the market today as unit prices head north on news that America will keep its economic stimulus in place for now. The US Federal Reserve has indicated will continue to print money and buy $US85 billion worth of treasury bonds a month.

Unit prices for REITs and high-dividend stocks soar on the news as investors cheer the move. REITs have seen largely depressed prices in recent weeks on fears that rising interest rates will narrow the margin between safe rates and dividends.

Mapletree Logistics Trust is currently trading up more than 4 per cent.

Doing well in particular are Singapore-focused REITs with high exposures to the local commercial and retail sectors.

Update at market close : Healthcare REIT Parkway Life soared well above the rest closing 12.1 per cent from its previous close at S$2.59

Prices for Mapletree Logistics Trust and Keppel REIT are currently trading more than 4 per cent from its previous close at S$1.11 and S$1.25 respectively. Other counters such as CapitaMall Trust and CapitaCommercial Trust are all trading more than 3 per cent above the last close. Bucking the trend however is Sabana REIT which is slightly lower from yesterday.

Update at market close : Sabana REIT ended in positive territory for the day.

We rank the current top 10 gainers (updated at market close) among the REITs below:

REIT Last (S$) Change (S$) % Change
Parkway Life REIT 2.59 0.28 12.12
Ascott REIT 1.27 0.06 4.53
Suntec REIT 1.71 0.07 4.28
AIMS AMP Industrial REIT 1.53 0.06 4.08
Mapletree Logistics Trust 1.11 0.04 3.76
Keppel REIT 1.25 0.05 3.75
Lippo Malls Indonesia 0.46 0.02 3.41
CapitaRetail China Trust 1.40 0.05 3.32
First REIT 1.09 0.04 3.32
Mapletree Greater China 0.94 0.03 3.30

Moving forward, yield-hungry investors are expected to sustain prices over the near term until there is an indication from the Fed that they will make a departure from the current stimulus trajectory.

By Ridzwan Rahmat

Ridzwan has been analysing REITs and business trusts since 2008, and personally manages a portfolio comprising mainly of SGX-listed REITs. He founded REITsWeek in 2013.