Hopes of positive US jobs report help rein in earlier loss
IT was a tale of two halves this week - the first half saw the Straits Times Index extend its losses from the previous week as emerging market (EM) worries took hold, and the second saw a rebound as short sellers covered their positions and as Wall Street placed a positive bet on Friday's US payroll numbers.
The first half's selling was perhaps to be expected given the jitters which have surrounded EMs for several months. The rebound was arguably also to be expected - traders cannot remain short for too long and the signs on Wall Street in the middle of the week were that the selling there was drying up, so short-covering on Thursday and Friday was always on the cards.
The three banks, SingTel and the Jardine group led the index below the 3,000 mark to the 2014 closing low of 2,960 on Wednesday. The rebounds on Thursday and Friday - which were also led by the banks, SingTel and the Jardine group - enabled the index to cut its loss for the week to 14 points or 0.5 per cent. In yesterday's session, the index gained 24.87 to end at 3,013.14.
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes
Companies & Markets
Frasers Property H1 profit slides 81% on property value losses, lower residential contributions
US bill to restrict WuXi AppTec, Chinese biotechs revised to give more time to cut ties
Barclays cuts jobs in energy transition team it only just built
UMS Holdings Q1 net profit drops 44% to S$9.8 million
SIA Engineering H2 profit rises 11.5% to S$37.8 million on robust aviation MRO demand
Great Eastern shares jump 39% as OCBC mounts S$1.4 billion privatisation bid at S$25.60 per share