Singapore stocks defy regional trend; STI climbs 0.4%
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The benchmark Straits Times Index gained 0.4 per cent or 11.65 points to 3,343.35.
ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
Tan Nai Lun
Follow topic:
SINGAPORE – Local shares bucked declines elsewhere in Asia and pushed slightly higher on June 27, after taking the lead from gains on Wall Street overnight.
The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) added 0.4 per cent or 11.65 points to close at 3,343.35, although losers outnumbered gainers 318 to 226 in the broader market after 1.5 billion shares worth $1.7 billion changed hands.
Wall Street ended higher ahead of the release of US price consumption expenditure data for May, but Saxo’s Asia-Pacific research team noted that it was a mixed performance. A few large-cap, heavily weighted index stocks had contributed to the stronger market appearance, the team said.
IG market analyst Yeap Jun Rong noted that the price data, which is the US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, will serve as validation for whether market expectations are being overly dovish in pricing for two rate cuts by the end of 2024.
Key regional indexes declined. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.1 per cent, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 0.8 per cent, the Kospi in Seoul 0.3 per cent and Malaysian stocks 0.4 per cent.
The real drama was in Australia where the bourse staged a huge 1.4 per cent intra-day rebound, after falling 1.7 per cent to a four-week low earlier in the session, to end down just 0.3 per cent. This was likely due to strategic buying by fund managers before the end of the financial year on June 28.
ST Engineering was the STI’s top gainer, rising 3.3 per cent to $4.33, while marine firm Seatrium was the biggest decliner, falling 5.4 per cent to $1.39.
The local banking trio ended higher: DBS rose 1 per cent to $36.05; OCBC was up 0.8 per cent to $14.51; and UOB gained 0.3 per cent to $31.11. THE BUSINESS TIMES
