STI down 0.01% in CNY eve half-day trading

HALF-day trading activity on the Singapore bourse was lacklustre with Singapore shares ending flat on Thursday, the eve of the Chinese New Year break.

The Straits Times Index (STI) fell marginally by 0.01 per cent or 0.36 points to end at 2,925.48 points.

Trading activity was also subdued elsewhere in the region, with financial markets in Japan, South Korea, mainland China and Taiwan closed on Thursday for public holidays.

Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at Axi, noted that investors have little cause to chase the market in the absence of significant macro developments.

Oanda's senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley said: "With much lower than average liquidity, headline-driven volatility spikes are the only thing likely to awaken Asian markets from their slumber."

In Singapore, some 1.21 billion securities worth S$633.39 million changed hands. Across the market, advancers outpaced decliners 190 to 162.

Among the STI constituents, Jardine Strategic Holdings emerged at the top of the table, with shares edging up 2.3 per cent or US$0.56 to US$25.29.

At the bottom was Thai Beverage, which fell 2.5 per cent or 2 Singapore cent to 78.5 cents. It was also the most active counter on the blue-chip index, with over 43.6 million shares changing hands. The beverage company on Thursday announced a net profit of 8.47 billion baht (S$376 million) for its first quarter ended Dec 31, up 0.5 per cent from a year ago. Its brewery unit BeerCo, which it intends to spin off and list on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) mainboard, posted a net profit of S$77.4 million for the first quarter ended Dec 31, 2020.

The banking trio ended in positive territory following a mixed performance in early trade. DBS gained 0.3 per cent or S$0.07 to S$26.07, OCBC rose 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$10.55, and UOB was up 0.2 per cent or S$0.05 to S$23.94.

Thomson Medical was the most active counter on the local bourse with over 253 million shares changing hands. Its shares climbed 11.3 per cent or 0.8 Singapore cent to 7.9 cents.