Straits Times Index closes slightly lower after cutting intra-day losses

SINGAPORE – The Straits Times Index slid almost 0.8 per cent during intra-day trading but managed to erase the losses and closed slightly down on April 1.

The Singapore blue-chip gauge dipped 3.58 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 3,968.85. This came as Wall Street closed overnight marginally higher after a late-session climb.

Mr Stephen Innes from SPI Asset Management cautioned that the Wall Street showing was a result of “a classic short covering late-day rescue”, month-end rebalancing flows and blind optimism.

He advised investors not to be fooled as the macro minefield ahead remains firmly intact. The US is

poised to announce reciprocal tariffs

on April 2 against its trade partners.

Mr Innes said the Trump administration is toying with a “kitchen sink” framework – reciprocal tariffs based on everything from headline deficits and value-added tax asymmetries to foreign exchange misalignment and non-tariff barriers. “But without a definitive rubric, price discovery becomes guesswork,” he noted.

Across the broader Singapore market, decliners beat gainers 316 to 202, with trading just exceeding $2 billion as 1.4 billion securities were transacted.

Shares of real estate group Ho Bee Land were down 0.5 per cent, or one cent, to $1.81, after it said on April 1 that its acquisition target, Australian property developer AVJennings, had accepted a competing binding offer from a US private equity fund instead.

AVJennings, which is listed in Singapore and Australia, was unchanged at 58 Australian cents.

Yangzijiang Financial Holding shares slid 3.8 per cent, or three cents, to 76.5 cents. The investment manager placed out treasury shares to raise $139 million for maritime investments to capitalise on industry tailwinds driven by increasing decarbonisation.

But the US has proposed imposing million-dollar levies on China-built or China-operated vessels and liners with orders for Chinese ships calling at American ports.

THE BUSINESS TIMES