Singapore stocks notch fifth day of gains; STI up 0.3 per cent

SINGAPORE – Upbeat investors ended a buoyant week the way they began – sending the local market north on July 11 for its fifth straight session of gains.

Concerns of more tariffs were set aside, with traders increasingly confident that Singapore can benefit from trade disruptions.

The positive sentiment sent the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) up 0.3 per cent, or 12.11 points, to 4,087.81. Across the broader market, gainers beat losers 298 to 202 on trade of 1.6 billion securities worth $1.4 billion.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding set the pace on the STI, rising 1.8 per cent to $2.32, while Genting Singapore led the losers, falling 1.4 per cent to 73 cents.

Wall Street was in a similar mood, with investors shrugging off US President Donald Trump’s recent trade onslaught – a 50 per cent tariff on goods from Brazil and a 200 per cent levy on pharmaceuticals.

Mr Chad Padowitz, chief investment officer at Talaria Capital, said pharmaceutical stocks globally had dipped less than some expected after Mr Trump threatened the 200 per cent tariff.

“The tariff news has been ebbing and flowing for a few months now; the market is discounting that somewhat... and I think you actually saw that in the pharmaceutical stocks in the US and Europe,” he noted.

The three key US indexes all rose overnight, with the Nasdaq up 0.1 per cent and S&P 500 rising 0.3 per cent, both hitting new records, while the Dow Industrials advanced 0.4 per cent.

Regional markets were mostly on a different page, with investors appearing spooked by Mr Trump’s latest shot in his ongoing tariff war.

While the Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 0.46 per cent, the other majors declined: The Nikkei in Tokyo fell 0.2 per cent, the Kospi in Seoul slipped 0.23 per cent, and Malaysian stocks dipped 0.03 per cent.

Australia’s market was flat, another slow day in a slow week given school holidays and an exodus of traders to the European summer.

THE BUSINESS TIMES