Singapore stocks end week in the black, STI up 0.2%

LOCAL shares ended the week on a more upbeat note as the state announced that it would ease certain restrictions that were previously thrown into question on the back of a spike in coronavirus cases in the community.

Among the new measures, the multi-ministry taskforce announced that food and beverage (F&B) establishments will be open to diners from June 21, though the size of groups had been cut to a maximum of two persons from the previous expectation of up to five persons. The Jobs Support Scheme will also be extended by three weeks starting June 21 at the current enhanced rate of 50 per cent.

The benchmark Straits Times Index rose 0.2 per cent or 5.85 points to finish Friday at 3,144.16. Across the broader market, decliners outnumbered advancers 255 to 224, after 2.11 billion securities worth S$1.84 billion changed hands.

Wednesday's talks of interest rate hikes by Federal Reserve officials did not have much of an impact on markets, said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda.

"The response by the markets to the FOMC dot plot shock has been variable," he said. "An inconclusive Wall Street session has left Asia to its own devices on a local basis, where the cyclical rotation seen overnight has prevailed to a lesser degree."

On the local bourse, Jardine Matheson Holdings was the top advancer for the second day in a row. The counter closed at US$64.78, up 3.1 per cent or US$1.94.

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TVV made gains after the company announced that it had received a letter of intent from Indonesia-based payments and remittance company Dompet Harapan Bangsa (OY!) for an equity stake. MC Payment shares closed at S$0.50, up 51.5 per cent or S$0.17.

BAI, formerly known as Sevak Limited, was the biggest decliner, shedding 10.4 per cent or S$0.24 to close at S$2.06. C07 was another loser, falling one per cent or S$0.22 to S$21.63.

The trio of local lenders also ended the week lower. D05fell 0.4 per cent or S$0.13 to S$29.77; U11 shed 0.4 per cent or S$0.10 to S$25.84, while O39 lost 0.6 per cent or S$0.07 to S$12.05.

Across the region, markets were a mixed bag of results. The Hang Seng Index rose 0.9 per cent; the KLCI added 1.2 per cent, and the Kospi inched up 0.1 per cent. The Nikkei 225 and Jakarta Composite Index fell 0.2 per cent and 1 per cent respectively.