STI defies Wall St sell-off to post modest 0.02% gain

Local shares ended a rocky week marked by interest rate rises across the globe by racking up an improbable rise yesterday. The Straits Times Index (STI) reported a 0.02 per cent gain or 0.66 points to 3,098.09, defying the sell-off on Wall Street overnight and some bloodletting on regional bourses.

The STI's better showing could partly be attributed to Singapore's favourable non-oil domestic export data out yesterday but it came after four trading days of losses.

Overall, the STI closed 2.6 per cent lower this week as investors stayed cautious amid hawkish moves by central banks in the United States and Europe to tamp down inflation with steep rate rises.

Mr Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management noted that "in what is a highly ominous signal for stock market investors, given the broader index's sensitivity to rising bond yields... the global race to hike rates is nowhere near the finishing line".

Gainers on the local bourse trailed losers across the broader market at 232 to 294 on heavy trading with 2.17 billion shares worth $2.3 billion transacted.

Electric vehicle firm Nio had been in decline for days since it announced its quarterly loss last week but yesterday rose 3.3 per cent to US$20.12.

Wilmar International, despite share repurchases, failed to rally and dipped 0.7 per cent to $4.01.

Wall Street set a gloomy tone for markets after investors sent stocks diving deeper into bear market territory overnight. The Dow Jones dropped 2.4 per cent, the S&P 500 dived 3.3 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 4.1 per cent.

Elsewhere, the Nikkei in Japan fell 1.77 per cent, but the Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 1.10 per cent and Shanghai was up 0.96 per cent. Australian shares endured their worst stretch since March last year with the index down 1.9 per cent yesterday.

 • Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse