Singapore shares marginally higher as investors await Fed chair’s testimony
Tay Peck Gek
SINGAPORE shares were marginally higher on Tuesday (Mar 7), as investors focused their attention on an upcoming speech by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell on the monetary policy of the United States.
The Straits Times Index (STI) rose about 0.2 per cent or 5.96 points to 3,245.27 points, echoing gains at most Asian markets. Investors are waiting to find out interest-rate forward movements from Powell’s testimony before the US Senate on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“Stocks probably won’t be able to have a meaningful rally until we hear from Fed chair Powell,” Oanda’s senior market analyst Edward Moya said.
Dismal Chinese trade data sent key gauges in mainland China and Hong Kong into the red, bucking the trend across Asian markets.
DFI Retail Group topped the STI performance tally, with the counter moving up 3.4 per cent or US$0.11 to US$3.30. This came after analysts wrote that they expected the pan-Asian player to benefit from the reopening of mainland China and Hong Kong.
Shares of OKP Holdings skyrocketed 18 per cent to a 52-week high at S$0.21. Its subsidiary Or Kim Peow Contractors has been awarded S$43.8 million in an arbitration case of a 2017 accident involving the collapse of a Pan-Island Expressway viaduct; this is expected to boost the group’s financial performance for the year ending Dec 31, 2023, the group announced on Monday.
Decliners beat gainers 267 to 251 in the broader market, with two billion securities worth a total S$1.1 billion transacted.
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