Singapore shares dip 0.1% amid cautious investor sentiment
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The STI, Singapore’s blue-chip barometer, dipped 3.78 points to 4,531.36.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
Tay Peck Gek
Follow topic:
- Singapore's Straits Times Index (STI) fell slightly due to worries about a slowing US economy, influenced by unexpected declines in US private-sector employment.
- Frasers Property saw a 52-week high after redeeming $300 million in securities, while Wee Hur increased after announcing a joint venture for a land parcel.
- Nordic Group's shares dropped despite securing $70.3 million in contracts across various sectors, including marine, oil and gas, and semiconductor industries.
AI generated
SINGAPORE – Both the Straits Times Index (STI) and the iEdge Singapore Next 50 Index finished lower on Dec 5, as concerns about the US economy continued to weigh on local stocks.
The STI, Singapore’s blue-chip barometer, dipped less than 0.1 per cent, or 3.78 points, to 4,531.36.
The iEdge Singapore Next 50 Index slid 0.5 per cent or 7.54 points to 1,440.75.
Across the broader market, decliners trailed gainers 236 to 301. About 976.9 million securities valued at nearly $1.2 billion were transacted.
The slight fall in the STI reflected a cautious trading day driven mainly by global worries, said research analyst Charmaine Tan of the research and portfolio management team at FSMOne Singapore.
She noted that the decline in US private-sector employment was unexpected and raised concerns that the US economy may be slowing. This has led investors in Asia, including Singapore, to take a more cautious approach.
Asian markets had a mixed showing. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI and Jakarta Composite Index were among those that slipped, but the Shanghai Composite Index and South Korea’s Kospi rose.
In Singapore, Frasers Property hit a 52-week high at $1.10, after rising 2.8 per cent or three cents. The property developer’s last regulatory filing on Nov 28 reported on the redeeming of perpetual securities worth $300 million.
Wee Hur rose 0.7 per cent, or half a cent, to 71.5 cents, a day after the developer announced a seven-party joint venture to develop its land parcel in Upper Thomson Road. WH Property, a wholly owned subsidiary, will take a controlling 50 per cent stake. The tender was awarded at a sale price of about $614 million, for a lease term of 99 years.
Nordic Group dropped 1.2 per cent – or half a cent – to 41 cents, despite the precision engineering and systems integration solutions provider announcing on Dec 4 that it had clinched several contracts with a total value of around $70.3 million. The contracts are with customers across the marine, offshore oil and gas, petrochemical, semiconductor, infrastructure and security sectors. THE BUSINESS TIMES
