Singapore stocks start the year mixed; STI down 0.2%

SINGAPORE shares traded mixed on Tuesday (Jan 3), the first trading day of the year, after a volatile 2022.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) fell by 0.2 per cent or 5.52 points to 3,245.80. Across the broader market, gainers beat losers 298 to 263 after one billion securities worth S$864.1 million changed hands.

This comes as the Singapore economy expanded 3.8 per cent year on year in 2022, as indicated by the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s advance estimates. Fourth-quarter gross domestic product came in at 2.2 per cent year on year, which is largely in line with private-sector economists’ expectations of a 2.1 per cent expansion.

IG market analyst Yeap Jun Rong noted that European markets have been more bullish on hopes for a smaller contraction in factory output. He added that investors will be looking out for signs of growth potentially bottoming out in 2023.

Elsewhere in the region, South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.3 per cent while the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index fell 1.4 per cent. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 1.8 per cent, and the Jakarta Composite Index rose 0.6 per cent.

The strongest performer on the STI was Mapletree Industrial Trust . Its units climbed 1.8 per cent or S$0.04 to close at S$2.26.

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At the bottom of the table was Yangzijiang Shipbuilding , which closed at S$1.28, down 5.9 per cent or S$0.08.

The trio of banks also ended mixed on Tuesday. DBS fell 0.1 per cent or S$0.04 to close at S$33.88, while UOB closed flat at S$30.70 and OCBC rose 0.5 per cent or S$0.06 to close at S$12.24.