Singapore stocks end higher amid mixed regional trading; STI up 0.2%
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Overnight, Wall Street stocks rallied after the US posted soft producer price index figures for August.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Tan Nai Lun
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SINGAPORE - Local stocks tracked overnight gains on Wall Street, amid mixed regional trading on Sept 11.
The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) gained 0.2 per cent to 4,355.82 points.
Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 311 to 221, with 1.5 billion securities worth $1.3 billion changing hands.
Overnight, Wall Street stocks rallied after the US posted soft producer price index figures for August.
Mr Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said: “What markets heard wasn’t just a tick lower in input prices; it was confirmation that the worst inflation ghost stories aren’t materialising.”
Equity valuations are “hanging in midair”, supported not by cheapness but by faith that US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell’s safety net will appear on cue, he said.
“The consumer price index is tomorrow’s main act, the twin dragons of food and energy stripped away so the Fed can stare straight into the core,” he said.
Elsewhere in the region, key indexes were mixed.
The Nikkei 225 rose 1.2 per cent and the Kospi Composite Index gained 0.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Hang Seng Index fell 0.4 per cent and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI lost 0.5 per cent.
On the STI, UOL was the top gainer, rising 3.9 per cent to $7.69.
Thai Beverage was the biggest decliner, losing 1.1 per cent to 46 cents.
The local banks ended mixed.
DBS Bank lost 0.3 per cent to $52.57.
The bank’s shares had hit a new all-time high of $53.24 under a minute after the market opened.
UOB fell 0.1 per cent to $35.46, while OCBC Bank rose 0.2 per cent to $16.88. THE BUSINESS TIMES
