Singapore stocks kick off week in the red, STI down 0.5%

LOCAL shares began the week on a slightly dour note, as traders remained cautious on the usual topics such as the new Omicron virus variant and impending tapering decisions by the Federal Reserve.

The benchmark Straits Times Index fell 0.5 per cent or 15.66 points to cap Monday at 3,119.95. Across the broader market, decliners outpaced advancers 253 to 202, after some 1.7 billion securities worth S$848.3 million changed hands.

Vishnu Varathan, head of economics & strategy at Mizuho Bank, said it is not difficult to notice a "glaring divergence" between the two economic powerhouses - China and the US - in their attempts to shake off the Covid-19 pandemic.

He noted that the US is "primed for a hawkish turn" at the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee meeting, while China has just signalled an "unequivocal pipeline policy easing".

On the local bourse, trading firm Intraco I06 was the top gainer, after the company announced that it had entered into a binding heads of agreement with Messrs Mark Carnegie and Sergei Sergienko for a 51 per cent stake in MHC Digital Co.

Intraco will fork out S$10 million in cash and issue 100 million new shares at an issue price of S$0.50 apiece, which it termed to be at a "significant premium" to Intraco's current share price. Shares of Intraco closed on Monday at S$0.445, up 85.4 per cent or S$0.205.

On the other end of the spectrum, Jardine Matheson Holdings J36 was the biggest loser. The counter closed at US$55.40, down 1.4 per cent or US$0.76.

The trio of local lenders were also among the decliners on Monday. UOB U11 fell 0.9 per cent or S$0.23 to S$26.55; DBS D05 fell 0.2 per cent or S$0.06 to S$31.84, and OCBC O39 shed 0.4 per cent or S$0.05 to S$11.30.

Digital security firm Disa Limited 532 was the most heavily traded counter for the day, with some 578.2 million shares changing hands. The counter ended the day at S$0.005, down 16.7 per cent or S$0.001.

Other heavily traded counters included Oceanus, Metech International and QT Vascular.

Across the region, markets ended the day mixed. The Nikkei added 0.7 per cent; the KLCI rose 0.4 per cent and the Jakarta Composite Index gained 0.2 per cent. Meanwhile, the Hang Seng Index fell 0.2 per cent, and the Kospi lost 0.3 per cent.