Singapore stocks finish lower as Fed rate hike looms; STI down 0.2%

TRACKING losses on Wall Street ahead of the Federal Reserve’s rate hike, Singapore shares ended in the red on Wednesday (Sep 21), along with other regional bourses.

The Straits Times Index (STI) fell 0.2 per cent, losing 5.15 points to 3,261.79. There were almost twice the number of losers than gainers at 300 to 182, as some 1 billion securities worth S$970.1 million changed hands.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 1.8 per cent, while in mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index dipped 0.2 per cent and the Shenzhen bourse slipped 0.7 per cent.

Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia lost 1 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.4 per cent.

Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at the Asia and Oceania treasury department of Mizuho Bank, said that one thing worth watching out from the Federal Open Market Committee meeting is the amplitude and accompanying rhetoric of the September rate hike.

The question has shifted from whether the Fed would hike rates by 50 basis points (bp) or 75 to whether it will go up by 75 bp or 100 bp after the August inflation data, and this could give a fresh gauge of how acute the central bank assesses inflation risks to be.

SEE ALSO

Singapore shares open slightly lower, extending Wall Street losses; STI down 0.1%

DECODING ASIA

Navigate Asia in
a new global order

Get the insights delivered to your inbox.

“The combination of action and words may convey clues on peak and persistence of higher rates,” he said.

Glovemaker Top Glove’s share price slid after the company posted its first quarterly loss since its Malaysian listing in 2001. It fell 7 per cent, dropping S$0.015 to S$0.20 on the Singapore bourse.

Parkway Life Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit), which announced on the same day that it had agreed to acquire 2 nursing homes in Japan for 2.88 billion yen (S$29.4 million) to deepen its expansion in the country’s aged care market, declined 2 per cent or S$0.09 to S$4.53.