Reits lead gainers on Monday as STI climbs 0.3%

SINGAPORE stocks closed higher on Monday (May 6), with real estate investment trusts (Reits) and property stocks leading the gainers.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.3 per cent or 10.26 points to close at 3,303.19.

Mapletree Logistics Trust finished at the top of the index performance table, having risen 3 per cent to close at S$1.39. Other counters in the top five included CapitaLand Ascendas Reit, Mapletree PanAsia Commercial Trust and Hongkong Land, which made gains of between 1.5 and 2 per cent.

The outperformance came amid improved investor sentiment towards inflation and interest rates.

IG market analyst Yeap Jun Rong said: “Market participants have been cheering the weaker-than-expected US jobs report and the US services’ Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data to end last week, which helped to calm nerves around stagflation and offered room for the Federal Reserve to consider earlier rate cuts.”

The three local banks had a mixed performance, with DBS closing 0.5 per cent higher, while UOB and OCBC closed in the red, slipping 0.3 and 0.1 per cent, respectively. Venture Corporation was the top index decliner, falling 1.5 per cent to close at S$14.25.

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Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 302 to 261 after 1.1 billion securities worth S$865 million changed hands.

Elsewhere in the region, stocks mostly closed higher, tracking the positive performance on Wall Street last Friday. Key indices in Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong and Shanghai rose between 0.5 and 1.2 per cent.

Yeap noted that the dovish recalibration in rate expectations may offer some relief to risk sentiments in the region, with market participants watching whether the weaker growth conditions in the US will form a trend over the coming months.