Local shares joined most regional markets to head south yesterday and end a four-day rally that was largely fuelled by a buoyant Wall Street and hopes of more fiscal stimulus in the United States.
The more cautious mood sent the Straits Times Index (STI) down 10.15 points or 0.4 per cent to 2,532.96 but it still managed to notch up a 1.48 per cent gain over the week. Losers outpaced gainers 212 to 173 with 1.07 billion shares worth $844.02 million traded.
Singtel, in chalking up a 0.93 per cent gain, was the STI's top performer, ending at $2.17. This came after the telecomms company said it had launched a 5G standalone trial network for enterprises. Jardine Strategic Holdings came in last on the STI performance table, sliding 1.9 per cent to US$21.15. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was the most active STI stock with a trading volume of 20.3 million shares. It sank 1.52 per cent to 97.5 cents.
Asian markets were mixed.
The Shanghai Composite Index posted a 1.68 per cent gain after an eight-day national holiday. It was lifted by generally favourable data showing China recovering strongly from the pandemic slowdown.
Malaysian shares advanced 0.72 per cent while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index closed flat though it put on 5.4 per cent for the week to hit levels not seen since early last month.
Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slid 0.12 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined a further 0.31 per cent, after being one of the few losers in Thursday's regional markets rally.
The South Korean exchange was closed for a holiday.
Global investor sentiment, which has been whipsawed by changing expectations of United States' stimulus moves, recovered after President Donald Trump said on Thursday that talks with Congress had restarted on targeted fiscal relief.
A softer US dollar, as investors wager on the likelihood of more stimulus measures if Democrats sweep the Nov 3 election, also aided the yuan and the region. The yuan jumped 1.3 per cent to a 17-month high against the greenback.
However, analysts remained cautious about whether the strength in regional currencies could endure.
"I don't know whether this rally could sustain, given the fact that we're heading towards the US election and that there could be plenty of political uncertainties down the road," said Ms Margaret Yang, a Singapore-based strategist at DailyFX.
• Additional information from Reuters
