Singapore stocks end lower in first 2024 session; STI down 0.3%

SINGAPORE stocks started 2024 weaker amid mixed trading across the region.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) fell 0.3 per cent or 10.32 points to close at 3,229.95 on Tuesday (Jan 2).

Shares of DFI Retail Group led the STI decliners, falling 2.5 per cent to close at US$2.34.

Real estate investment trusts (Reits) were also among the losers, with counters such as Mapletree PanAsia Commercial Trust, CapitaLand Ascendas Reit, and Mapletree Logistic Trust, slipping between 1.7 and 1.9 per cent.

The three local banks turned in a mixed performance. DBS and OCBC ended in the red, slipping 0.4 and 0.6 per cent respectively. Meanwhile, UOB shares closed higher, rising 0.2 per cent.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was the top STI gainer on Tuesday, gaining 3.4 per cent to close at S$1.54.

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Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 305 to 297 after 1.2 billion securities worth S$718.9 million were traded.

Shares of watchlisted SMI Vantage were among the top five most active stocks by volume. The counter – which has a market capitalisation of around S$24 million – rose 2.6 per cent to S$0.040 after 26.8 million shares worth S$1.1 million were traded.

Elsewhere in the region, key indices in Hong Kong and Shanghai fell 1.5 and 0.4 per cent respectively. Meanwhile, the Kospi in South Korea and Australia’s ASX 200 both rose 0.5 per cent.

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China’s official Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) data over the long weekend showed that manufacturing activities continued to contract for the third straight month in December, while non-manufacturing PMI also came in slightly below expectations, IG market analyst Yeap Jun Rong noted.

“Until economic conditions offer a sustained trend of recovery to provide conviction for markets that the worst is over, the divergence with global equities may be set to continue,” he said.