SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - Singapore's key Straits Times Index fell more than 3 per cent during intra-day trading on Friday (May 14) as fresh curbs to fight rising Covid-19 cases raised the spectre of gloomy prospects for the mending economy.
The STI dropped the most in nearly a year by 68.24 points or 2.18 per cent to finish at a nine-week low of 3,055.02.
The losses made the local bourse an outlier in the region as its major peers finished the week on a higher note following modest gains overnight in Wall Street as inflation worries eased.
Week-on-week, the STI has lost 145.2 points or 4.5 per cent.
The emergence of major clusters at the airport and a local hospital, which prompted the latest round of restrictions, serves as a stark reminder on how delicate the recovery from the pandemic is, albeit fortified by the ongoing vaccine roll-out.
Turnover was high with 3.52 billion units worth S$3.22 billion changing hands. In the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers with 467 counters down and 127 up.
Singtel retreated 9 Singapore cents or 3.7 per cent to S$2.32 and was the day's seventh most actively traded with 72 million shares worth S$168 million done. The telco said on Friday morning that it was launching a strategic review of two key units and warned that its second half and full year ended-March results are expected to include net exceptional losses of S$839 million and S$1.21 billion respectively owing to impairments.
Frencken Group closed unchanged at S$1.42. The company released a stellar first quarter update earlier this week on better product mix and margins.
DBS Group Research issued a buy rating on the counter with a 12-month target price of S$1.98 given its resilient earnings, thanks to its diversified portfolio, and higher contribution from the semiconductor segment.
