Singapore shares slip despite rally on Wall Street

Gains clocked by Wall Street overnight failed to ignite local shares yesterday. The sombre mood left the Straits Times Index (STI) down a marginal 0.93 point or 0.03 per cent to 3,198.08.

Losers trailed gainers 219 to 264 on the broader market with a turnover of 1.87 billion shares worth $1.10 billion.

The STI's flattish showing came as its peers in the United States continued their rally for the fifth straight day, driven by rosy corporate earnings that have kept the equity bulls going.

However, the International Monetary Fund has lowered its economic forecast for Asia-Pacific, as it expects the regional economy to recover from the consequences of the pandemic at a much slower pace, due to low vaccination rates and high infection rates.

Ascendas Reit, which posted a positive rental reversion of 3.7 per cent for lease renewals in the third quarter ended Sept 30, was one of the top STI performers with a 1 per cent gain when the counter closed at $3.04.

ThaiBev lost 2.1 per cent to 70 cents and ended at the bottom of the STI performance tally.

Sembcorp Marine, after flagging losses that could be over half-a-billion dollars for the half-year to Dec 31, was the most heavily traded counter with 185 million shares changing hands. It endeed 1.24 per cent down at eight cents.

Markets in Asia closed mainly higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed 1.35 per cent while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 soared 0.53 per cent. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.14 per cent and FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index inched up 0.02 per cent.

However, the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.17 per cent and South Korea's Kospi closed lower by 0.53 per cent.