Singapore stocks track Wall Street losses; STI down 0.6%
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The Straits Times Index fell by 0.6 per cent to close at 3,263.24.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
Tan Nai Lun
SINGAPORE – Local shares closed lower on Monday, tracking losses on Wall Street from last week.
The Straits Times Index (STI) fell by 0.6 per cent to close at 3,263.24.
On the wider bourse, losers outnumbered gainers 353 to 228 after 1.8 billion securities worth $1.2 billion changed hands.
IG market analyst Yeap Jun Rong noted that Wall Street stocks ended lower last Friday as higher-than-expected core pricing figures in the United States drove up rate-hike expectations.
He said the rise in the US’ core personal consumption expenditure price index last week “went head-on with expectations for the ‘disinflation process’, and provided some validation for a higher-than-before peak” in the Federal Reserve’s policy rate.
Mr Yeap said he expected that pressure on the Fed – to do more in terms of policy tightening – would outweigh the optimism of a “soft landing” for now.
Key indexes in the region were also in the red on Monday.
The Nikkei 225 lost 0.1 per cent, the Kospi fell 0.9 per cent, the Hang Seng ended 0.3 per cent lower, and the KLCI slid 0.1 per cent.
In Singapore, the top loser on the STI was Venture Corp, which lost 4.9 per cent to end at $17.28.
On Friday, the electronic component manufacturer reported a net profit of $195.3 million for its second half ended Dec 31, 2022, up 13.8 per cent from a year earlier.
This was mainly due to higher revenue growth from robust customer demand, as well as the introduction of new products in the second half, it said.
Meanwhile, the index’s top gainer on Monday was DFI Retail Group, which gained 2.9 per cent to close at US$3.21.
