Singapore, regional equities follow Wall Street lower; STI down 0.4%

THE Straits Times Index (STI) fell 0.4 per cent or 10.96 points to close at 3,139.47 on Friday (Jul 7), after the US posted stronger-than-expected economic data overnight.

Across the broader market, losers beat gainers 303 to 240 after 1.32 billion securities worth S$1.03 billion were traded.

IG market analyst Yeap Jun Rong noted that resilient labour market conditions and persistent services sector prices were not well-received by Wall Street overnight, which Asian stocks largely tracked.

He noted that both the US jobs data and the US Institute for Supply Management (ISM) services purchasing managers index came in stronger than expected. “Given that the Fed has previously expressed its unease over services inflation, the persistence in services prices from the ISM data further challenged the pace of progress in inflation,” he said.

He added that the overall data brought an upward surge in US treasury yields as rate cut bets faced some pushback from January to May next year.

Regional markets were in the red. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s Kospi both shed 1.2 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.9 per cent.

SEE ALSO

ISM survey shows US service sector up in June; inflation gradually slowing

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DFI Retail Group was the largest gainer on the STI. It rose 4.3 per cent or US$0.11 to US$2.66.

At the bottom of the table was CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust , which fell 2.1 per cent or S$0.04 to S$1.86.

The trio of banks fell on Friday. OCBC fell 0.4 per cent or S$0.05 to S$12.05; UOB lost 0.4 per cent or S$0.11 to S$27.40, and DBS was down 0.1 per cent or S$0.04 to S$30.67.