Singapore shares surged on Thursday, tracking regional gains with the STI index crossing the 5,000 mark, following strong US jobs data which dampened near-term US interest rate cut expectations.

The Straits Times Index (STI), a key benchmark for the Singapore Exchange, ranged between 4,986.22 and 5,021.27 throughout the day. It ended the session at 5,016.76, up 32.18 points or 0.7% compared to Thursday's close.

The US job growth was stronger than expected, as nonfarm payrolls increased by 130,000 for January, while the unemployment rate edged lower to 4.3%.

In company news, shares of Alliance Healthcare (SGX:MIJ) surged over 31% at the close, as the healthcare provider's attributable profit to owners zoomed to SG$1.5 million in the half ended Dec. 31, 2025, from SG$292,100 a year earlier.

Singtel's (SGX:Z74) share ended under 1%, as its net profit for the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, 2025, surged 43.5% to SG$1.89 billion from SG$1.32 billion a year earlier.

Meanwhile, shares of StarHub (SGX:CC3) were down over 5% at the close as its attributable profit to owners of the company fell by 51% in H2, 2025 to SG$38.5 million from SG$78.4 million a year earlier.

STI up 0.7%; Keppel, OCBC up 2%; UOB, Sembcorp, SIA, UOL up 1%; SGX down 3%.