Festive season inertia took over yesterday as the lack of new market developments gave investors just the excuse they needed to take it easy.
The usual pre-Christmas lull was in full swing with Asian benchmarks following a ho-hum session on Wall Street overnight in thinly-traded sessions.
"Admittedly, all was fairly calm in markets," said Mr Vishnu Varathan, Mizuho Bank's head of economics and strategy for the Asia and Oceania treasury. "But this, of course, may be attributed to the lack of interest and liquidity in thin and silent holiday markets."
Even though the Singapore market was open for half a session, the Straits Times Index (STI) managed to produce a decent showing, adding 7.67 points or 0.24 per cent to close at 3,221.67 yesterday.
Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific, Australia, which was also open for half a day, closed higher.
Other key regional markets had a full session. China and Taiwan were trading higher but Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and South Korea were posting losses.
For what it's worth, investors were probably quite pleased to have little to process over the Christmas holiday given the year they have had.
The United States-China trade relationship has dictated market sentiment, which at times led to wild swings in global equity markets.
A "Phase One" deal has been confirmed by both parties, with a signing likely next month. "But this is merely an affirmation of what we already know, whereas there are few reasons to believe that optimism about a broader or Phase Two deal in the near term," Mr Varathan noted.
Trading volume here clocked in at 597.82 million shares worth $388.52 million with gainers trumping losers 178 to 138.
Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was the most actively traded STI counter. It rose 0.9 per cent to $1.15 with 22.4 million shares changing hands.
"Yangzijiang has been on an upward trend since mid-November and with the chairman's return, could be on the cusp of an extended rebound," a trader said.
Russia's announcement that it would cooperate with Opec to cut crude oil output further early next year helped oil and gas counters.
Rex International went up 1.6 per cent to 18.9 cents, and Interra Resources added 4.9 per cent to 8.6 cents. Meanwhile, offshore energy contractor Dyna-Mac Holdings jumped 8.3 per cent to 14.3 cents.
Real estate investment trusts (Reits) were mostly higher, with the iEdge S-Reit Index up 0.3 per cent to 1,441.
