Singapore shares inch higher on Friday amid gains in region; STI up 0.1%

SINGAPORE shares closed slightly higher on Friday, in line with regional markets that also climbed up following overnight gains in Wall Street.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.1 per cent or 1.98 points on Friday to close at 3,121.60. However, the index was down 22.56 points or 0.7 per cent over the week, amid weakness in local bank shares.

SGX market strategist Geoff Howie noted that the trio of local banks - DBS, OCBC and UOB - which make up around 40 per cent of the STI have declined over the past seven sessions, with their shares falling 1.8 per cent on average.

Mr Howie said that rate repricing and the flattening of the US yield curve following last week's US Federal Reserve meeting has weighed on global banks, even as other sectors managed gains. This trend has also been mirrored across the Asia-Pacific.

The trio managed to eke out gains on Friday - UOB rose 0.04 per cent, DBS climbed 0.1 per cent, and OCBC was up 0.4 per cent. Finishing at the bottom of the STI performance table was Sembcorp Industries, which fell 2.3 per cent to close at S$2.11.

Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 245 to 228 on Friday after 2.38 billion securities worth S$1.24 billion changed hands.

Keppel Corp and Sembcorp Marine were among the most actively traded counters, after they announced on Thursday that they were exploring a potential merger of Sembcorp Marine and Keppel Offshore & Marine. Keppel Corp shares rose 5.7 per cent to close at S$5.40, and topped the STI performance table. Meanwhile, Sembcorp Marine, which also proposed a rights issue, saw shares plunge 27.2 per cent to 13.9 Singapore cents, after nearly a billion shares changed hands.

Elsewhere in Asia, key indices in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Hong Kong ended higher on Friday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street amid optimism over a bipartisan infrastructure agreement in the US.