SINGAPORE - Singapore shares picked up the pieces from the previous day’s rout sparked by the United States Federal Reserve’s half-hearted dovish stance and recovered some ground on Friday alongside most regional peers.
The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 27.6 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 3,130.11 as traders trawled for value after Thursday’s sell-off and ahead of key US jobs data. It has ended in positive territory on four of the past five days, gaining 70.92 points, or 2.3 per cent, over the week.
On the local bourse, some 1.65 billion securities worth $1.26 billion were traded. Gainers outpaced losers, with 347 counters up and 218 down.
Gains were driven by banking trio DBS, UOB and OCBC.
Key gauges across the region, such as Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, South Korea and Australia, posted gains.
Japan bucked the trend and closed sharply lower.
Apart from bargain hunting, the broad gains in the region were also due to reopening headlines as investors speculated that China’s pivot from its stringent zero-Covid-19 policy could happen well before the Fed’s dovish pivot.
Uncertainty continued to persist in the market over how high the Fed peak rate may go. Recession fears were also renewed after the Bank of England stepped up the pace of rate hikes.
“What is probably more certain today is that the pace of (Fed) hike will slow. Fed calibration in terms of slower pace of hike should eventually offer some relief and bring about a more moderate US dollar profile going forward,” said OCBC Treasury Research in a note.
Aztech Global reported on Thursday evening that its net profit rose 34.2 per cent year on year to $63.7 million for the nine-month period, owing to strong revenue from the group’s Internet of Things devices and data communication products. This was achieved on the back of 55 per cent growth in revenue to $607 million. Maybank Securities said it expects its fourth quarter core business to be strong with the company’s robust order book of $821 million, but it might be dragged down by further foreign exchange losses. As a result, it has lowered the tech firm’s target price to 79 cents from 83 cents previously. The stock climbed five cents, or 6.2 per cent, to 86 cents.
Nanofilm Technologies released its nine-month business update on Wednesday. While it did not reveal any financial data, it said revenue grew 10 per cent year on year. Given the slowing outlook, CGS-CIMB Research has cut its financial year 2022-2024 revenue forecasts, resulting in 8.4 per cent to 13 per cent decreases in the earnings per share forecasts. The house has also downgraded the stock’s rating from “add” to “hold” pending net profit recovery in financial year 2023 and lowered the target price to $1.78 from $3.05 previously. The counter shed 27 cents, or 15.6 per cent, to end at $1.46. THE BUSINESS TIMES
