Asian markets mixed after week of sell-offs

LAST week, markets the world over faced heavy sell-offs but the question on investors' minds has been whether a rebound is in sight.

Going by how Asian equities resumed declines on Monday after gains earlier in the early session, signs are that the mood dampening markets is likely to drag on.

On equity sell-offs in Asia, FXTM's chief market strategist Hussein Sayed said: "The bears seem well in control of the market and there're many reasons to justify their actions. Whether it's weakening global economic growth, the ongoing US-China trade war, monetary policy tightening, fears of a hard Brexit, Italy's budget woes... and the list goes on."

In Singapore, the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) closed 0.3 per cent or 9.52 points higher to 2,981.54, under the key support level of 3,000.

CMC market analyst Margaret Yang tells The Business Times: "The Singapore market holds gains on Monday despite a broader sell-off in North Asia, as investors probably remain positive on fundamental grounds."

However, "a true rebound will likely happen after both US and China stock markets stop bleeding, as Singapore equities are highly sensitive to negative spill-over from both," she added.

Turnover on the Singapore bourse stood at roughly 1.62 billion shares worth S$867 million in total, which worked out to an average unit price of S$0.53 per share. Decliners outnumbered advancers 202 to 162.

However, the flavour of the day was Creative Technology, which soared S$0.68 or 12.6 per cent to close at S$6.08. The homegrown consumer electronics firm revealed its Super X-Fi audio devices will hit shelves in the US from Nov 1.

The usually thinly traded Pine Capital was the bourse's most hotly traded stock with a turnover of 71.6 million shares.

The index's biggest gainer on the day - Yangzijiang Shipbuilding - gained S$0.06 or 5.2 per cent up at S$1.21.

Shares in the shipbuilder were sold down on Oct 19 over concerns that new orders were tapered. However, OCBC Investment Research analyst Low Pei Han told BT : "We continue to believe that the group is likely to hit its full year target of US$1.8 billion by the end of this year ... It has an outstanding order book of US$4.1 billion which should keep its yard facilities at a healthy utilisation rate up to 2020."

The STI's biggest loser in dollar terms was electronics manufacturing services firm Venture Corporation, which fell S$0.16 or 1 per cent to close at S$15.33, a 52-week low.

In percentage terms, palm oil player Golden Agri-Resources, was the biggest loser. It had to deal with news of Indonesian authorities arresting executives of its units in a bribery probe over the weekend. Its shares closed S$0.005 or 2 per cent lower to S$0.25.

Among key regional markets, the sell-offs continue to affect China as the Shanghai Composite bore the brunt of investors' scepticism on weak profits for industrial and consumer firms.

This added fuel to already mounting concerns on the slowing Chinese economy, despite Beijing's attempts to stabilise stock markets.The index dropped 2.2 per cent or 56.74 points to close at 2,542.1.

IG market strategist Pan Jingyi said: "We have certainly seen how the negative sentiment looms large with Chinese markets coming online to tip regional indices into the red."

"Over and above the various worries weighing on sentiment, the continued weakening of the yuan despite a stronger fixing on Monday drove the latest drop as jitters over further outflows sustain."

The other Asian markets fared mixed, with the Nikkei and Kospi ending lower. The Kuala Lumpur Composite and Hang Seng posted modest gains, with the latter slipping into positive territory late in the session on bargain-buying by investors.

Bucking the trend, the ASX 200, driven by financials and materials listings, closed 1.1 per cent up.

For full listings of SGX prices, go to http://btd.sg/BTmkts