Singapore stocks advance with focus on key US inflation data; STI up 0.5%

SINGAPORE shares finished higher for the second straight day on Tuesday (Jul 11), buoyed by China’s efforts to prop up its ailing property sector, and ahead of key US inflation data.

The Straits Times Index (STI) climbed 14.52 points or 0.5 per cent to 3,163.84, buoyed by overnight gains on Wall Street. Similarly, key bourses across the region from Japan, Hong Kong and China to South Korea, Malaysia and Australia also finished higher.

In their efforts to support the beaten-down property sector, Chinese authorities said that financial institutions are being encouraged to roll outstanding loans through end-2024, in a bid to boost liquidity. The move could help restore confidence over the short term, after sentiment was dented by recent manufacturing and inflation data that revealed a deepening slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.

Meanwhile, all eyes are on Wednesday’s US inflation report and its implications for the Federal Reserve’s rate-hike expectations. Signs of easing inflationary pressures will raise hopes that the Fed’s hiking cycle could end as soon as after July’s policy meeting. On the other hand, persistently high inflation could lead to expectations that the central bank would keep rates up for longer.

On the local bourse, some 1.8 billion securities worth S$851.3 million were traded on Tuesday. Gainers trumped losers, with 348 counters up and 215, down.

Notably, Nanofilm Technologies tumbled S$0.21 or 15.7 per cent to S$1.13 – the lowest since its listing in October 2020 – after it flagged a net loss of about S$8 million for the first half ended June 2023, on the back of a 34 per cent drop in revenue.

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DBS gained S$0.10 or 0.3 per cent to S$31.01. The bank said it has agreed to sell a 77.8 per cent stake in electronic payment services provider AXS to Tower Capital Asia, a Singapore-based private equity firm. DBS will continue to retain a minority stake of 9.9 per cent in AXS.

Keppel Corp added S$0.06 or 0.9 per cent to S$6.53. The company said it had secured contracts worth US$70 million to provide long-term and recurring “energy-as-a-service” in Vietnam.