Singapore shares rise on interest rate cut expectations; STI edges up 0.9%

SINGAPORE shares joined regional indexes on the first trading day of the week in closing higher, after Wall Street rallied last Friday (Dec 20) as lower-than-estimated United States inflation raised market expectations for earlier interest rate cuts.

Singapore’s blue-chip gauge, the Straits Times Index (STI), was up 0.9 per cent or 32.4 points at 3,752.33 on Monday, with only four component stocks closing lower or flat. Singtel – the only STI counter that closed down – was 0.6 per cent or S$0.02 lower at S$3.10. Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust , Singapore Airlines and Thai Beverage were all flat, at S$1.20, S$6.38 and S$0.55, respectively.

While interest rate cut expectations rose, counters of the three local banks were all up – DBS increased 1.3 per cent or S$0.54 to S$43.36; UOB rose 1.1 per cent or S$0.41 to S$36.25; and OCBC gained 0.6 per cent or S$0.10 to S$16.49.

Singapore Post , whose trading volume was second to most active stock Clearbridge , registered nearly 90.9 million shares a day after three of its senior executives including the CEO were fired.

Decliners trailed gainers 209 to 295 across the broader market, with 935.3 million securities worth S$747.5 million traded.

The S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq 100 all posted gains last Friday, driven by encouraging inflation data, which provided some relief to investors.

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Besides some mainland Chinese equity indexes, markets in Asia mostly rallied with Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index the best performer up 1.7 per cent at the closing bell.