Singapore stocks track regional declines; STI down 0.4%
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The benchmark Straits Times Index shed 0.4 per cent or 16.54 points to close at 4,273.86.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Tan Nai Lun
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SINGAPORE – Local shares ended lower on Sept 25, mirroring declines across the region.
The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) shed 0.4 per cent, or 16.54 points, to close at 4,273.86. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 280 to 264, after 1.8 billion securities worth $1.5 billion changed hands.
Most key indexes in the region ended lower. The Hang Seng Index slid 0.1 per cent, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dropped 0.1 per cent, and the Kospi Composite Index inched down 0.03 per cent.
The Nikkei 225 bucked the trend with a 0.3 per cent gain.
Wall Street stocks also declined overnight. Mr Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said that traders were unsettled by the “twin shadows” of US Federal Reserve policy uncertainty and artificial intelligence (AI) fatigue.
He added that US Fed chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks that equities were “fairly highly valued” was not intended as a warning, but it landed that way.
“For traders already stretched and leaning hard into risk, it sounded like the faint whistle of an official preparing to call time on over-exuberance.”
Meanwhile, markets are grappling with the question of “whether the economics of AI can live up to (its) narrative without cannibalising the very companies” that fund it, Mr Innes said.
On the STI, Hongkong Land was the top decliner. It fell 3.4 per cent, or 22 US cents, to US$6.30.
Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was the top blue-chip gainer, rising 0.9 per cent, or three cents, to $3.32.
The three local banks ended lower. DBS Bank lost 0.1 per cent, or seven cents, to end at $50.27; OCBC Bank fell 0.6 per cent, or 10 cents, to $16.26; and UOB dropped 0.1 per cent, or five cents, to $34.36. THE BUSINESS TIMES
