STI dips 0.5% amid mixed regional markets
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Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 291 to 272 on Aug 15.
PHOTO: BT FILE
Megan Cheah
SINGAPORE - Singapore stocks continued to slide on Tuesday, with the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) down 0.5 per cent to 3,232.74.
In the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 291 to 272, after 1.2 billion securities worth $976.5 million changed hands.
Regional indexes were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.6 per cent, while the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up 0.2 per cent. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slid 1 per cent. South Korea’s stock exchange was closed for a public holiday.
On the Singapore Exchange, semiconductor player Frencken Group spiked 14 per cent, or 11.5 cents, to close at 93.5 cents, following the release of its financial results for the six months ended June 30. Analysts expect better days ahead for the group, with many raising their target prices on the stock as they believe its share price has bottomed out.
Sembcorp Industries was the biggest loser on the STI, down 1.7 per cent, or 10 cents, to $5.65. The energy and urban solutions provider is slated to join the MSCI Singapore Index from Sept 1 as its market cap has crossed the $10 billion threshold.
Meanwhile, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding continued its ascent, posting a 52-week high of $1.70, up one cent, or 0.6 per cent, from the previous day. Its most recent earnings, announced on Aug 3, had risen 47 per cent to 1.7 billion yuan (S$319 million) on strong ship-construction revenue.
The trio of local banks continued to be mired in red on Tuesday. OCBC Bank sank 0.8 per cent, or 10 cents, to $12.50, DBS Bank slipped 0.8 per cent, or 27 cents, to $33.29, and UOB slid 0.5 per cent, or 14 cents, to $28.64.
On a broader scale, SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said recent swings in commodities have emerged as a risk to the more benign inflation outlook.
“While this risk should be monitored from now on, we think there are several reasons why commodity market developments – at least to date – are unlikely to derail the disinflation trend through the remainder of the year.”
These include modest increases in global soft commodity prices and likely easing of global food inflation, he said. THE BUSINESS TIMES
Correction note: An earlier version of this story stated that South Korea’s Kospi Composite Index was down 0.8 per cent. It was actually closed for a public holiday.
