Singapore shares sink on Monday after Powell signals slower-than-expected rate cuts; STI down 1.4%
SINGAPORE shares ended Monday (Feb 5) in the red, after United States Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said the Federal Open Market Committee is unlikely to make a rate cut in March.
The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) finished at 3,134.29, down 1.4 per cent or 45.48 points.
Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 351 to 241, as 1.9 billion securities worth S$1.3 billion changed hands.
Key regional indices were mostly down. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index inched down 0.2 per cent, while South Korea’s Kospi Composite Index shed 0.9 per cent. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index fell 0.4 per cent.
However, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.5 per cent.
The falls came as investors grappled with Powell’s latest comments implying fewer rate cuts this year. The Fed’s head said in an interview on Sunday that the central bank wanted to see more data on inflation “moving sustainably down to 2 per cent”.
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Meanwhile, robust US jobs data on Feb 2 showed non-farm payrolls increasing by 353,000 in December, beating expectations.
Paul Chew, head of research at Phillip Securities, said nearly two-thirds of the job additions are from the government and healthcare sectors. “These jobs are growing at almost triple their pre-pandemic pace,” he added.
Back home, the top gainer on the STI was Hong Kong-based conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings , which rose 2.3 per cent or US$0.92 to US$41.68.
Real estate investment trust Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust was at the bottom of the index, after it lost 5.5 per cent or S$0.08 to end at S$1.38.
Local banking stocks ended lower on Monday. DBS declined 1.1 per cent or S$0.37 to S$31.85, while OCBC fell 1.5 per cent or S$0.19 to S$12.81. UOB contracted 0.8 per cent or S$0.23 to S$28.39.
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