Singapore shares fall on Tuesday amid mixed regional showing; STI down 0.1%

[SINGAPORE] Singapore stocks closed in the red on Tuesday (Jul 28) while regional markets turned in a mixed performance.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) lost 0.1 per cent or 4.13 points to finish at 5,616.11.

CapitaLand Investment led the gainers on Singapore’s blue-chip index with a 4 per cent or S$0.10 rise to S$2.61.

The worst performer among the STI constituents was Yangzijiang Shipbuilding , which fell 1.5 per cent or S$0.06 to S$3.91.

The local banks all closed lower. DBS lost 0.6 per cent or S$0.47 to end at S$73.91, OCBC fell 1.2 per cent or S$0.36 to S$28.93, and UOB was down 0.8 per cent or S$0.36 at S$43.14.

Across the broader market, losers beat gainers 335 to 273, after 1.3 billion securities worth S$2.4 billion changed hands.

Key regional indices were mixed.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 4 per cent, South Korea’s Kospi was down 10.8 per cent and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped 0.04 per cent. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.4 per cent.

Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said: “Asia’s semiconductor rout deepened into something closer to a forced liquidation on Tuesday, as investors stopped debating whether the artificial intelligence trade was crowded and started discovering just how much leverage had accumulated beneath it.”

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He added that the immediate fundamentals of semiconductors have not given way, as evidenced by the demand for high-bandwidth memory, hyperscaler spending and the commitment of technology giants to their capital expenditure plans.

“What has changed is the market’s willingness to capitalise those promises at almost any price,” said Innes.

This article has been written with the assistance of AI and reviewed by a reporter