Singapore shares rise on first trading day of 2025; STI up 0.4%
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Investors expect more gains in 2025 but few are anticipating the same stellar returns as over the past two years.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
Yong Jun Yuan
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SINGAPORE – Local shares made a positive, if somewhat modest, start to the new trading year on Jan 2 despite declines across much of the region and no leads from Wall Street overnight.
Activity was subdued amid the festive season slowdown.
Only 812.8 million securities worth $581.4 million changed hands on a day when the Straits Times Index (STI) advanced 0.4 per cent or 13.21 points to 3,800.81.
Losers beat gainers 284 to 246.
The STI’s top performer was Thai Beverage, up 2.8 per cent to 56 cents, while Singapore Exchange (SGX) was at the bottom of the table, down 1.8 per cent at $12.51.
CapitaLand Investment climbed 1.2 per cent to $2.65.
Group chief executive Lee Chee Koon told employees on Jan 2 that macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties could “weigh heavily” on the company in 2025.
Regional markets were mostly down.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 2.2 per cent, the Kospi in Seoul slipped 0.02 per cent and Malaysian shares were off 0.6 per cent, but Australian stocks bucked the trend, putting on 0.5 per cent.
All eyes will now be on how Wall Street, which was closed for New Year’s Day, kicks off 2025.
Investors hoping for a Santa rally were disappointed after markets ended the last session of 2024 in the red.
However, the three key indexes still racked up their best two-year rally in more than 25 years.
The S&P 500 rose 23 per cent in 2024, the Dow climbed 13 per cent and the Nasdaq was up 29 per cent.
Investors expect more gains in 2025 but few are anticipating the same stellar returns as over the past two years, especially as US interest rate cuts are likely to remain few and far between and stock prices are already elevated.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong told an event THE BUSINESS TIMES
