Singapore stocks end higher on first trading day of the week; STI up 0.5%
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Uma Devi
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LOCAL shares ended Tuesday (Oct 25) on a fairly upbeat note, as investors shrugged off slightly dour macroeconomic news of Singapore’s core inflation rising further to 5.3 per cent in September.
The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.5 per cent or 14.2 points to end Tuesday at 2,984.15. The local stock market was closed on Monday for Deepavali. Across the broader market, decliners outnumbered advancers 288 to 266. Daily turnover came in at some 1.5 billion securities worth a total of S$1.3 billion.
Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy for Asia at Mizuho Bank, said one theme that resonates across key global markets like the US and China is that of conflict.
“The conflict between uncomfortably elevated US inflation and gathering headwinds distilled down as markets warming to the idea of Fed hikes step down from 75 basis points to 50 basis points for (the) December FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee),” he said, noting that this has triggered an equity market rally since Friday.
“Our suspicion is that Fed pivot relief is overdone, if not premature,” he added.
Elsewhere in the region, markets ended the day mixed. The Nikkei 225 was up 1 per cent and the ASX 200 rose 0.3 per cent. Meanwhile, the Hang Seng Index, Kospi and KLCI were each down about 0.1 per cent.
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On the local bourse, Jardine Cycle & Carriage was the top gainer, rising 2.3 per cent or S$0.71 to S$31.21. The trio of lenders were also among the top gainers. DBS was up 1.1 per cent or S$0.37 at S$32.76, OCBC added 1.5 per cent or S$0.17 to S$11.70, while UOB gained 0.5 per cent or S$0.14 to S$26.13.
Sembcorp Marine was the most heavily traded counter for the day, with about 105.1 million shares changing hands. The counter closed flat at S$0.119.
Other actively traded counters on Tuesday were Geo Energy Resources , Biolidics and Singtel .
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