Singapore shares finish lower on Friday, STI down 0.7%

SINGAPORE – Local shares ended a dismal week moored firmly in the red on Friday, amid widespread regional losses on the back of persistent concerns over United States interest rates and geopolitical tensions.

The sombre mood left the Straits Times Index (STI) down 0.7 per cent, or 22.91 points, to 3,076.69, and a painful 3.4 per cent lower for the week. Losers well outstripped gainers 341 to 256 in the broader market on trade of 1.5 billion shares worth $1.1 billion.

Key regional bourses fared no better, led by South Korea’s Kospi, down 1.7 per cent, and the ASX 200 in Australia, which slipped 1.2 per cent to end 2.1 per cent lower for the week.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong and the Shanghai bourse both shed 0.7 per cent, while the Nikkei in Tokyo dropped 0.5 per cent.

The declines came after the three key indexes on Wall Street fell by between 0.7 per cent and 1 per cent overnight following conflicting signals on interest rates from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell.

SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes noted that rising bond yields in the US and heightened political tensions continued to weigh on market sentiment.

“Investors will be reluctant to take on stock market risk while opting for the safety of last-resort hedges like the Vix (the Chicago Board Options Exchange’s CBOE Volatility Index), oil and gold,” he said.

CapitaLand Ascendas Reit was the STI’s top loser, plunging 2.8 per cent to $2.48, while Keppel Corp was the leading gainer, up 1.3 per cent to $6.33 after the firm’s positive market update on Thursday.

Seatrium, the most heavily traded counter on Friday, closed flat at 11.7 cents after 415.2 million shares changed hands.

All three local banks finished in negative territory. DBS Bank fell 0.3 per cent to $33.08, UOB dipped 0.4 per cent to $27.76 and OCBC Bank shed 0.3 per cent to $12.79.

THE BUSINESS TIMES