STI inches up 0.2% amid US debt ceiling crisis, ahead of China data

SINGAPORE - Local shares finished modestly higher on Monday, as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of further data signals on China’s recovery and the

uncertainty over the US debt ceiling stand-off.

The key Straits Times Index (STI) edged higher by 0.2 per cent to 3,214.72, as caution remained thick in the air after last Friday’s losses on Wall Street. Key gauges across the region were mixed, with gains in Japan, Hong Kong, China, South Korea and Australia, and losses in Malaysia and Taiwan.

In its daily update, IG Research said with broad expectations of an impending interest-rate pause and the mounting probability of a United States recession, “bad news (on the economy) is bad news (for markets)” appears to be the underlying theme.

China is due to report monthly industrial production, retail sales and fixed-asset investment data on Tuesday. The release of some data out of the world’s second-largest economy has so far sparked concerns as it could suggest that economic data is turning relatively less sanguine.

Back on the Singapore Exchange, Genting Singapore drew investor attention, showing up as the day’s second-most active counter with 108 million shares traded. The counter slipped 7.2 per cent to $1.03. Last Friday, the leisure and gaming giant reported a year-on-year trebling of first-quarter net profit to $129.2 million, as it continues to benefit from regional travel recovery and gaming demand.

Golden Agri-Resources closed unchanged at 27 cents. It was the eighth-most actively traded counter on Monday, with 19 million shares changing hands. The group reported a 51 per cent decline in first-quarter net profit to US$92 million (S$123 million) from the same period a year ago, on the back of lower and more normalised crude palm oil prices.

THE BUSINESS TIMES