Singapore stocks fall amid mixed regional trading; STI down 0.3%

SINGAPORE – Regional markets largely avoided the gloom that enveloped Wall Street overnight after strong signals from the United States Federal Reserve that interest rate cuts were still some way off.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) was not one of the lucky ones, however, and slipped 0.3 per cent, or 9.95 points, to 3,143.06 on Feb 1. Losers pipped gainers 267 to 258 across the broader market after 1.4 billion shares worth $1 billion changed hands.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.5 per cent; the Kospi in Seoul rose 1.8 per cent; and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI put on 0.02 per cent.

The STI had company in the deficit camp with Japan’s Nikkei 225 losing 0.8 per cent while Australian shares snapped their eight-day winning streak to fall 1.2 per cent.

Investors seemed to be taking a cautionary approach after disappointing technology earnings in the US, renewed concerns over the country’s regional banks and Fed chair Jerome Powell pushing back on expectations of a March rate cut, said the Saxo Markets Asia-Pacific strategy team.

The Fed kept rates unchanged in its latest meeting and its statement overnight tilted hawkish with a line that said it will not ease until it has more confidence on inflation coming down, they noted.

“This pushed equities lower, bonds higher and resulted in mild gains in the US dollar with Japanese yen outperforming,” they said.

A disappointed Wall Street reacted by heading south, but the three key indexes still managed to rack up their third consecutive month of gains.

The STI’s biggest winner was DFI Retail Group, which rose 3 per cent to US$2.06, while UOL was the biggest loser, falling 4 per cent to $6.01.

The trio of local banks all ended lower: DBS Bank fell 0.2 per cent to $31.83; OCBC Bank lost 0.4 per cent to $12.84; and UOB was down 0.1 per cent to $28.34.

THE BUSINESS TIMES