Singapore stocks decline as July key exports fall; STI sheds 0.5%

SINGAPORE stocks ended Thursday (Aug 17) once again in the red, on news that the country’s July non-oil domestic exports slid 20.2 per cent on year. 

The Straits Times Index (STI), the local bourse’s blue-chip barometer, dropped 0.5 per cent or 16.83 points to 3,196.75. Losers outnumbered gainers 315 to 289 in the broader market, as 1.1 billion securities worth S$1 billion were traded. 

Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 0.4 per cent to end at 31,626, its lowest level since June, while South Korea’s Kospi Composite Index was down 0.2 per cent on its fifth straight day of losses. FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ended the day down 1.1 per cent.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was mostly flat, as it marginally ticked down 0.01 per cent.

The retreat of the regional indices mostly mirrored Wall Street, which slid after the release of the July Federal Open Market Committee minutes. 

A note by UOB senior economist Alvin Liew said the US Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes had a hawkish tone as participants agreed that inflation remained “unacceptably high”.

However, consensus among policymakers was “fraying” as a couple of participants favoured leaving the Fed funds target range unchanged.

“So while the July decision (to raise the rate by 25 basis points) was unanimous, there are clear signs of divergence in the discussion on the future path of the Fed’s policy action,” said Liew. 

In Singapore, property group Hongkong Land shed 2.2 per cent or US$0.08 to close at US$3.62. The counter had been the top gainer on the STI on Wednesday. 

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Seatrium continued to be heavily traded, as 236.7 million shares changed hands. The counter was up 1.5 per cent or S$0.002 to S$0.136. 

The shipbuilding company was in the news on Wednesday as a man was charged in court over corruption offences allegedly committed when he was a commercial executive of Sembcorp Marine Integrated Yard, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sembcorp Marine.

Sembcorp Marine was rebranded to Seatrium in April 2023.

The three local banks continued to decline on Thursday.  UOB fell 0.6 per cent or S$0.17 to S$28.11, while OCBC dropped 0.5 per cent or S$0.06 to S$12.31. DBS was the biggest loser of the trio as it dipped 1 per cent or S$0.33 to S$32.77.