Singapore stocks rise on Friday, bucking regional trend; STI up 0.4%

LOCAL stocks gained for a fourth consecutive day on Friday (Apr 22), bucking a regional trend where most markets ended the day in the red.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) climbed 0.4 per cent or 12.65 points to close at 3,361.11. For the week, the market barometer was up 0.8 per cent or 25.26 points.

Keppel Corp led gains on the index, rising 2.4 per cent to S$6.81, after reporting on Thursday that Q1 revenue and net profit had improved from the same period a year earlier.

Meanwhile, shares of Wilmar International and ST Engineering were among the top decliners for the day, falling 1.1 per cent and 0.7 per cent respectively

Across the broader market, decliners outnumbered gainers 225 to 224 after 1.7 billion securities worth S$1.3 billion were traded.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding shares were the most actively traded by value, with the counter closing at S$0.965 after 171.5 million shares worth S$158 million changed hands. It was the first day the counter traded on an ex-entitlement basis after shareholders earlier approved the spin-off of its investment arm Yangzijiang Financial Holding. The latter commences trading on the Singapore Exchange on Apr 28.

Elsewhere, key indices in Japan, Australia, Hong Kong and South Korea ended the day between 0.2 and 1.6 per cent down, amid hawkish comments from US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell. 

The prospect of even faster more aggressive rate hikes, and whether the Fed can achieve a soft landing, was enough to send US equity markets into a sharply lower finish that has spilled over into Asian equity markets, Oanda senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley noted.