Asia stocks close higher; STI up 0.2%
Key regional indices are in the black with Hang Seng rising 0.5% and Nikkei 225 gaining 0.8%
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SINGAPORE equities closed higher on Tuesday (Oct 29), as investors awaited crucial data releases this week from the United States.
The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) added 0.2 per cent or 6.28 points to 3,590.36.
Across the broader market, losers beat gainers 259 to 244, with 1.1 billion securities worth S$1.1 billion having changed hands.
Key indices in the region were in the black. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.5 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.8 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi Composite Index ticked up 0.2 per cent, and the Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index went up 0.3 per cent.
BlackRock Investment Institute strategists said the focus is now on the US core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index being released this week, as well as the jobs data.
“The core PCE – the US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge – had been cooling as immigration has expanded the labour supply, and services inflation recently fell well below wage growth... The October jobs data should show still-healthy payroll gains and still-solid wages,” they said.
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Back home, the STI was led by shipbuilder and marine engineering manufacturer Yangzijiang Shipbuilding , which expanded 1.2 per cent or S$0.03 to S$2.56. Real estate investment trust Mapletree Industrial Trust was the bottom of the STI, falling 1.6 per cent or S$0.04 to S$2.39.
The trio of local banks all gained on Tuesday. UOB was up 1 per cent or S$0.34 at S$32.75. OCBC climbed 1 per cent or S$0.16 to S$15.43. DBS rose 0.5 per cent or S$0.21 to S$39.29.
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