STI ends flat despite Wall Street rally

SINGAPORE shares ended Tuesday nearly flat despite an overnight rally on Wall Street, as recovery is within sight following the widely deployed Covid-19 vaccinations in the United States.

The Straits Times Index (STI) closed at 3,207.63 points, down 0.07 per cent or 2.11 points.

Said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda: "US equities had a mighty session overnight, powered by ISM and non-farm payroll recovery hopes."

But Asia markets adopted a much more cautious tone with mixed trading on Tuesday. Key benchmarks in Seoul and Jakarta ended higher; Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur were in the red. The Hong Kong market was closed for a public holiday.

Mr Halley said: "That is a pattern that repeated itself last week, where strong rallies on Wall Street were not replicated in Asia."

"Asian markets most likely need to see two consistent days of powerful rallies by Wall Street to start buying into the recovery trade once again," he added.

Across the Singapore market, advancers outnumbered decliners 206 to 173 for the day, with 1.98 billion shares worth S$1.22 billion changing hands.

Among the STI constituents, Venture Corporation and the Singapore Airlines were the top-performing stocks.

Shares of Venture edged up 0.9 per cent or S$0.19 to S$20.40; SIA ended up 0.9 per cent or S$0.05 to S$5.64.

ST Engineering was also among the top five stocks on the blue-chip index. It ended 0.5 per cent or S$0.02 higher at S$3.95. It has, together with US tactical vehicle manufacturer Oshkosh Defence, been selected to participate in the prototype phase for the US Army's Cold Weather All-Terrain Vehicle, Oshkosh announced in a statement on Monday.

At the bottom of the table was Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, which was down 4.6 per cent or S$0.06 to S$1.26. It was also the most heavily traded stock, with over 53 million shares changing hands.