Bulls And Bears
Inflation fears, rising Covid-19 cases weigh on S'pore shares
• STI falls 0.67%, mirroring overnight losses on Wall Street • OCBC, UOB and Thai Beverage lead losses on local bourse • Regional markets mixed, with HK, China up and Japan down
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Local shares closed lower for the third straight day yesterday, owing in part to persistent worries over inflation and rising Covid-19 cases in many parts of Asia as well as overnight losses on Wall Street.
The Straits Times Index (STI) fell 21.01 points, or 0.67 per cent, to 3,123.26. In the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 229 to 223 on trade of 1.54 billion shares worth $1.48 billion.
Other key gauges were mixed, with Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Australia down, while Hong Kong, China and Malaysia rose.
Markets appear to be paying little regard to the United States Federal Reserve, which has maintained its easy monetary policy while downplaying inflation risks. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.4 per cent.
CMC Markets analyst Kelvin Wong said the Wall Street sell-off has been overblown and was most likely due to profit-taking.
SGX market strategist Geoff Howie noted that the decline in global tech shares has made the STI the year's strongest regional benchmark, with a 9.8 per cent gain.
Losses here were led by OCBC Bank, UOB and Thai Beverage.
Golden Agri-Resources - the second-most active counter, with 79.6 million shares done - rose 5.8 per cent to 27.5 cents ahead of its quarterly performance update.
After the market closed, the palm oil giant reported a net profit of US$41 million (S$55 million) for the first quarter from a loss of US$95 million in the previous year.
Manulife US Reit fell 0.7 per cent to 73.5 US cents. It reported a first-quarter portfolio occupancy of 92 per cent on Tuesday.
OCBC Investment Research has maintained a fair value estimate of 82 US cents, citing its resilient portfolio and that it would benefit from the US economic rebound.
