Asian markets, STI up as US Fed Reserve start December deliberations
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Wong Wei Han
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SINGAPORE - Key Asian markets were mostly up on Tuesday as the Federal Reserve started its two-day December meeting, with Singapore shares ending marginally up in a rocky session.
The Straits Times Index closed up 3.04 points or 0.1 per cent at 2,955.23, snapping the previous three-day slide. But the session reflected an uncertain mood, with the STI hitting as low as 2,939 before firming up in the late afternoon.
Across the whole market, some 1.43 billion shares worth S$1.04 billion were traded.
Elsewhere, Shanghai added 0.07 per cent while Hong Kong gained 0.06 per cent, following the news that China's November industrial output grew 6.2 per cent year on year. Tokyo also rose, up 0.5 per cent.
And on Wall Street, Dow Jones Industrial Average added another 0.2 per cent overnight, but S&P 500 eased off 0.11 per cent, reminding the markets that the Fed jitters haven't disappeared just because a rate hike announcement is all but confirmed in this meeting.
Meanwhile, investors remained attentive on oil prices. The crude oil futures Brent had a slight wobble after Monday's surge but still stayed above the US$55 (S$78.5) level.
Offshore and marine stocks were very active as a result.
Ezra Holdings saw 158.6 million of its shares changing hands, as it closed down 0.1 cents or 1.79 per cent at 5.5 cents. Ezion Holdings ended flat at 40.5 cents, with 42.6 million traded shares.
On the STI, Keppel Corp was one of the 12 losers, down four cents or 0.64 per cent to S$6.24. Over the past month however it was still up 17.5 per cent.
Analysts remained divided in their views on what the Opec oil production cut may actually mean for the offshore marine firms here.
Outside the benchmark segment, some market watchers continued their search for value stocks, and DBS analyst Paul Yong had his eyes on several growth companies.
"We see value in well-run, strong cashflow generative companies with net cash and stable record of dividends, such as Valuetronics and CNMC Goldmine," Mr Yong said in his monthly small and mid cap report.
