SINGAPORE – A rally across key regional bourses could not prevent the local market from dipping on Friday.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended the week by falling 0.4 per cent, or 11.52 points, to 3,270.51, but gainers trounced losers 308 to 208 after 1.8 billion shares worth $1.1 billion changed hands.

Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.3 per cent, while the Kospi in Seoul gained 0.2 per cent and the Nikkei 225 index climbed 1.4 per cent.

Australian shares snapped a five-day losing streak to rise 0.2 per cent but ended down 0.2 per cent for the week.

The regional mood may have been lifted by improving investor sentiment in the United States, reflected by strong gains on Wall Street.

Saxo’s Asia-Pacific strategy team noted on Friday that the broad-based S&P 500 index in the US had its best session overnight since January on strong tech earnings, with Meta’s shares surging nearly 14 per cent.

“Adding to the positive sentiments was a rally in regional bank shares and better-than-expected earnings from European banks,” the analysts said, noting that both Deutsche Bank and Barclays Bank exceeded earnings expectations.

However, they added that advance US gross domestic product estimates for the first quarter missed expectations, and reflected a “stark slowdown” in growth as compared with the fourth quarter of 2022. This was despite a 3.7 per cent increase in personal consumption.

“Business activity seems to be getting hurt by high interest rates, with declines seen in private inventory investment and residential fixed investment,” the analysts said.

The STI’s top gainer was CapitaLand Ascendas Reit, which gained 1.8 per cent to close at $2.86.

At the bottom of the table was CapitaLand Investment, which shed 4.1 per cent to $3.72. Friday was the ex-date for the company’s dividend, which offered shareholders 12 cents and 0.057 CapitaLand Ascott Trust units per share. THE BUSINESS TIMES