Singapore stocks end higher on Friday, bucking regional declines; STI up 0.1%

[SINGAPORE] Singapore stocks ended higher on Friday (Jul 24), with the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) gaining 0.1 per cent or 6.58 points to finish at 5,588.34.

Seatrium led the gainers on Singapore’s blue-chip index, rising 1.4 per cent or S$0.03 to S$2.13.

The worst performer among STI constituents was UOL , which fell 3.1 per cent or S$0.30 to S$9.40.

The three local banks inched upwards. DBS gained 0.6 per cent or S$0.44 to end at S$73.94, OCBC rose 0.7 per cent or S$0.19 to S$29.09, and UOB was up 0.7 per cent or S$0.32 at S$43.32.

Within the iEdge Singapore Next 50 Index, First Resources was the top gainer, rising 2.8 per cent or S$0.10 to S$3.68, while iFast was the biggest decliner, falling 3.1 per cent or S$0.30 to S$9.28.

Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 357 to 219, after one billion securities worth S$1.7 billion changed hands.

Key regional indices were in the red. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 1 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei 225 shed 2.7 per cent, South Korea’s Kospi was down 5.7 per cent and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined 0.8 per cent.

Barnabas Gan, group chief economist and head of market research at RHB Bank, noted: “The re-escalation of US-Iran tensions has pushed crude oil prices above the US$100 per barrel mark, reflecting a growing geopolitical risk premium and heightened market uncertainty.

“Investors are once again shifting towards a more cautious stance amid geopolitical concerns and periodic sell-offs in AI-related equities.”

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Therefore, RHB advocates for “tactical overweight in safe-haven assets” and “a short-term underweight position in equities” in the next two to four weeks, “as risk appetite is likely to remain under pressure”.

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