Singapore shares buck downtrend in Asia as STI rises 0.2%

SINGAPORE - Local shares bucked the downtrend in most Asian bourses on Thursday, after recovering some lost ground in the afternoon session.

The blue-chip barometer, the Straits Times Index (STI), registered an increase of 0.2 per cent, or 7.03 points, to 3,186.61 points.

This was in contrast to most key Asian indexes, which finished in the red.

International investors were concerned that the United States central bank might raise interest rates at its meeting next week, after two other central banks hiked theirs on Wednesday.

The developed market space was upended after the Australian and Canadian central banks both opted to raise rates against consensus expectations of a hold. Both central banks opted to pause earlier in 2023, and market participants generally had not expected them to raise policy rates further, DBS Group Research noted.

The key takeaway is that central banks are data-dependent, and a pause does not guarantee the end of rate hikes, said the strategists. Now that the US labour market has proven to be strong, a firm inflation data print next week might just tilt the odds in favour of another hike, with Fed officials possibly planning one or two more hikes.

Singapore Airlines’ share price increased 1.6 per cent to a three-year high of $7 – a figure last seen in March 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic started to hit the national carrier’s passenger traffic.

Property, engineering and construction group Lian Beng, whose privatisation offer closes on Friday after an extension a fortnight ago, was up 0.7 per cent to 68.5 cents – higher than the revised offer price of 68 cents per share. The offeror had garnered 82.4 per cent of the total issued shares as at the last update on Wednesday. THE BUSINESS TIMES