Singapore shares rise marginally as investors turn cautious ahead of Fed decision

[SINGAPORE] Singapore stocks finished slightly higher on Monday (Dec 1), as investors await the the United States central bank’s interest rate decision.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) barely budged, inching up 2.26 points or less than 0.1 per cent to 4,526.22 points, while the iEdge Singapore Next 50 Index had a better showing, rising 1.42 points or 0.1 per cent to 1,448.63 points.

Still, decliners beat gainers marginally 279 to 271 across the broader market, as 1.3 billion securities worth S$1.4 billion were transacted.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding slid 2.1 per cent or S$0.07 to S$3.28, making the China-based shipbuilder the worst STI performer.

By contrast, Hongkong Land topped the blue-chip tally, rising 3.5 per cent or US$0.22 to US$6.57. The company engaging in property investment, management and development has been conducting a series of share buybacks.

Non-STI stock Disa was the most actively traded stock with 118.6 million shares transacted, but its share price closed unchanged at S$0.001. The investment holding company did not release any market-sensitive information recently.

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Paul Chew, Phillip Securities head of research, noted that investor sentiment for equities is cautious, and technicals are fragile for the US market.

“We expect the market to remain sideways until the Federal Reserve interest rate decision on Dec 10. This week there will be two employment data points, (Fed chair) Powell’s speech and core PCE (personal consumption expenditures) inflation reading to frame expectations for the upcoming rate decision.

“Our base case is a 25-basis point cut, which the futures market is attributing an 83 per cent probability.”