Singapore shares flat as key Asian bourses rally
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Tay Peck Gek
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SINGAPORE shares nearly missed the rally in key Asian indexes, after a choppy session on Friday (Jun 9).
The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.36 points or a mere 0.01 per cent to 3,186.97 points. The benchmark, which has been trading range-bound this week, managed to notch a gain of 0.7 per cent over the week, though.
Key Asian stock markets wrapped up the last trading day of the week higher, sanguine that the US Federal Reserve will pause the interest-rate hike next week after jobless claims in the world’s largest economy beat consensus.
Stephen Innes, managing partner of SPI Asset Management, said the Fed will likely pause at next week’s meeting.
He noted that the Fed leadership has signalled that it sees pausing as the prudent course of action. This is because uncertainty about the lagged effects of the rate hikes it has already delivered and the impact of tighter bank credit increase the risk of accidentally overtightening.
Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy for Asia and Oceania treasury at Mizuho Bank, pointed out that expectations for a near-term hike are merely whittled down, not abandoned. An 80 per cent odds of a 25 basis-point hike at the Fed’s July meeting is still in place.
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The top-performing STI constituent stock on Friday was Thai Beverage , which rose 3.6 per cent to S$0.575. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was at the bottom of the performance chart, after declining 2.3 per cent to S$1.27.
Trading turnover for the day came in at 1.16 billion securities with a total value of S$1 billion. Gainers beat decliners 269 to 233.
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