Singapore stocks close higher in tandem with region; STI up 0.2%
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The benchmark Straits Times Index added 0.2 per cent or 6.28 points to 3,590.36.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Megan Cheah
SINGAPORE - Equities in Singapore closed higher on Oct 29, as investors awaited crucial data releases this week from the United States.
The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) added 0.2 per cent or 6.28 points to climb to 3,590.36.
Across the broader market, losers beat gainers 259 to 244, with 1.1 billion securities worth $1.1 billion having changed hands.
Key indexes in the region were in the black. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.5 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.8 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi Composite Index ticked up 0.2 per cent, and the Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index went up 0.3 per cent.
BlackRock Investment Institute strategists said the focus is now on the US core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index being released this week, as well as jobs data.
“The core PCE – the US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge – had been cooling as immigration has expanded the labour supply, and services inflation recently fell well below wage growth... The October jobs data should show still-healthy payroll gains and still-solid wages,” they said.
Back home, the STI was led by shipbuilder and marine engineering manufacturer Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, which expanded by 1.2 per cent or $0.03 to $2.56. Real estate investment trust Mapletree Industrial Trust was at the bottom of the STI, falling 1.7 per cent or $0.04 to $2.39.
The trio of local banks all gained. UOB was up 1 per cent or $0.34 to $32.75. OCBC Bank climbed 1 per cent or $0.16 to $15.43. DBS Bank rose 0.5 per cent or $0.21 to $39.29. THE BUSINESS TIMES
