SINGAPORE - Singapore shares pulled themselves out from underwater territory on Friday to eke out gains, bucking losses across regional bourses, which took the cue from Wall Street’s overnight falls.
The Straits Times Index (STI) edged up 17.14 points, or 0.5 per cent, to cap the week at 3,328.37.
The key index fell just over 32 points, or 1 per cent, in an eventful week domestically that saw the release of Budget 2023, economic data for the fourth quarter of 2022, and January trade data. On the wider bourse, some 1.5 billion shares worth $1.1 billion changed hands; losers outnumbered gainers 278 to 260.
Key gauges across the region – in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan – logged losses to end a choppy trading week.
In equity markets, investors’ attention returned to rate hike woes as data showed United States producer prices rebounded in January, indicating more price pressures. This overshadowed the earlier euphoria over strong consumer spending in the US. Traders were further spooked by remarks from two Federal Reserve officials that they were considering interest rate hikes of 50 basis points.
ACY Securities chief economist Clifford Bennett said in a report: “As we have been warning for some time, the existing extreme price pressures – with more to come down the pipeline in services and shelter – leave no room whatsoever for resurgent petrol prices. Global oil prices are volatile, but have been clearly trending higher. It was only a matter of short delay before this fresh tide of inflation flowed in over the top of an already swollen sea of inflation... This rise in petrol prices will have a ‘triple crippling impact’ on the US economy.”
He added: “It was a mistake to reduce from 50- to 25-point increments so early in this fight against inflation. And this is what markets are completely failing to understand and factor in: that this is a ‘long fight’ against inflation.”
On the Singapore Exchange, Sembcorp Marine (Sembmarine) was Friday’s most actively traded counter with 323.6 million shares transacted. It fell 0.5 cent, or 3.7 per cent, to 13.1 cents. On Thursday, Sembmarine’s shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of the merger with Keppel Corp’s offshore and marine unit.
ESR-Logos Reit came under selling pressure when it resumed trading on Friday. It had on Thursday halted trading pending an announcement that it had closed the books for a $150 million private placement exercise. The new units were priced at 33 cents, a discount of some 5.8 per cent to the volume-weighted average price of 35.02 cents for all trades on Wednesday. The real estate investment trust was the day’s second most actively traded counter with 71.3 million units transacted; its shares slipped 5.7 per cent to 33 cents. THE BUSINESS TIMES
