Singapore stocks climb amid regional rallies, earnings reports

SINGAPORE – Local investors took heart from regional gains and a flurry of positive earnings reports to send the market inching up on Feb 21, but the mood remains cautious.

The rise was as modest as it gets with the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) adding just 0.1 per cent, or 2.43 points, to 3,929.94, with losers just beating out gainers 277 to 270 on trade of 1.5 billion securities worth $1.7 billion.

Key regional indexes mostly climbed despite falls on Wall Street overnight. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 4 per cent, buoyed by index constituent Alibaba, which soared more than 10 per cent on its earnings beating estimates.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo added 0.3 per cent, Malaysian shares rose 0.9 per cent while the Kospi in Seoul ended flat.

It was another gloomy day in Australia where the ASX 200 closed down 0.3 per cent – its lowest finish in five weeks and the fifth straight day of decline.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Asia economists Helen Qiao and Ting Him Ho said Asian economies face a “high risk of United States tariffs”, given the region’s trade surplus and tariff gaps with the US.

Back home, urban solutions provider Sembcorp Industries was the STI’s top gainer, adding 3.8 per cent to $5.75. Maritime player Seatrium led the losers, falling 4.8 per cent to $2.38.

Another index constituent, integrated resort operator Genting Singapore, slipped 3.2 per cent to 75 cents, after its first-half profit dropped 34 per cent to $222 million.

CGS International analyst Tay Wee Kuang said Genting’s management told analysts that profitability would likely be “pressured” in the first half of 2025, amid operations ramping up ahead of the opening of new attractions in the second half.

The three local banks had a mixed session. DBS Bank expanded 1.2 per cent to $46.62, OCBC Bank ticked up 0.1 per cent to $17.73 but UOB declined 0.1 per cent to $38.38.

THE BUSINESS TIMES