STI breaches 4,900; DBS, OCBC, UOL, Jardine Matheson end at record highs

[SINGAPORE] Singapore shares breached the 4,900 mark on Tuesday (Jan 27), with the record-breaking momentum buoyed by overnight gains on Wall Street, a flight to safe-haven assets and optimism about US Big Tech earnings.

The blue-chip Straits Times Index (STI) rose 62.09 points or 1.3 per cent to 4,923.02, after several constituents closed at record highs.

UOL surged 8 per cent or S$0.83 to S$11.18, with the property player not only topping the STI performance tally, but also climbing higher than its previous peak.

Jardine Matheson also closed at a historical high of US$76.28, after gaining 2 per cent or US$1.47.

DBS added 1.7 per cent or S$0.98 to finish at S$59.27 – also an all-time high. OCBC closed with a fresh record as well, rising 1.8 per cent or S$0.38 to S$21.42. But their counterpart UOB lagged behind. It slid 0.1 per cent or S$0.05 to end at S$38.45.

Meanwhile, the iEdge Singapore Next 50 Index – which tracks the performance of the 50 largest companies listed on the mainboard after the STI stocks – inched up 0.1 per cent or 1.7 points to 1,497.87.

Across the broader market, gainers beat losers 341 to 235, with nearly 1.5 billion securities valued at over S$2.1 billion transacted.

Chong Yik Ban, analyst at Phillip Securities Research, attributed the Singapore benchmark index’s performance to a flight to safe havens and investor optimism ahead of US Big Tech companies’ earnings release. 

He noted rising long-term bond yields reflect market nervousness over US fiscal discipline. In light of that, investors may be preferring the Singapore market, he said.

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“If Big Tech beats expectations, global liquidity (will often flow) into the Singapore market following ‘risk-on’ sentiments,” he said. “Overall bullish sentiments on equities as an asset class would drive Singapore stock performance if Big Tech (companies) outperform in their earnings.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices closed Monday up 0.6 per cent, 0.5 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.