STI dips as trading volumes wane amid year-end festivities

The Straits Times Index (STI) dipped 0.1 per cent, or 4.04 points, to close at 3,104.24 points yesterday, amid quiet trading due to the festive season.

In the wider market, advancers outnumbered decliners 190 to 139, with 863.6 million shares worth $394.2 million changing hands.

Oanda senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley said: "With Hong Kong and Australia closed today, along with Britain this afternoon, and a number of secondary locations, it is hardly a surprise that Asian markets are quiet."

Markets were mixed across Asia, with Japan's Nikkei 225 and South Korea's Kospi both closing 0.4 per cent lower, while the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 1.2 per cent.

The top performer on Singapore's blue-chip index was Dairy Farm International Holdings, which gained 2.6 per cent to close at US$2.80.

At the bottom of the table was another Jardine Matheson Group member, Jardine Cycle & Carriage, which fell 0.7 per cent to $20.60.

The most heavily traded counter among the index constituents was Singtel, which closed flat at $2.32 after nearly 12 million shares changed hands.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was also heavily traded. The counter climbed 1.5 per cent to $1.32, with 11.8 million shares traded.

The trio of local banks closed lower. DBS fell 0.3 per cent to $32.50, UOB dropped 0.6 per cent to $26.73 and OCBC dipped 0.2 per cent to $11.32.

Outside the STI, Hatten Land was among the most heavily traded, with 120 million shares changing hands.

The company inked an agreement with Huawei International to jointly explore and develop business opportunities in renewable energy, data centre, cloud computing, enterprise intelligence and fintech infrastructure.

The move comes as the Malaysia property developer eyes shareholder approval at an extraordinary general meeting on Thursday to diversify its business to include renewable energy, physical-digital malls, cryptocurrency mining and the metaverse.