Singapore stocks end lower on Thursday despite Wall Street gains
Tan Nai Lun
SINGAPORE stocks ended lower on Thursday (May 11), even as Wall Street stocks were largely up due to softer inflation figures in the United States.
The Straits Times Index (STI) fell 0.4 per cent or 12.74 points to 3,229.55. Losers outnumbered gainers 287 to 246, after 1.5 billion securities worth S$1 billion changed hands.
Kelvin Wong, Asia-Pacific senior market analyst at Oanda, noted that the latest set of inflationary data in the US has raised the expectations of a pause in the Fed funds rate at 5 to 5.25 per cent.
The headline US consumer price index (CPI) has continued to slow down further, at a 4.9 per cent year-on-year growth from 5 per cent in March.
But Wong noted that headline US CPI inflationary growth may make an uptick in the coming months, given that the current data on US sticky-price inflation growth is still elevated, and the heightened risk of an increase in global food prices.
“We cannot rule out that too much optimism is being priced at this juncture in advocating for an interest rate-cutting Fed pivot in the second half of 2023,” he said.
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Regional indices were mixed at the close. The Hang Seng Index slipped 0.1 per cent, the Kospi Composite Index fell 0.2 per cent, and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index fell 0.04 per cent. Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 inched up 0.02 per cent.
In Singapore, the top gainer on the STI was Genting Singapore, which rose 1.8 per cent or S$0.02 to S$1.12.
The top decliner was Frasers Logistics and Commercial Trust, which fell 3 per cent or S$0.04 to S$1.28.
The trio of local banks ended lower on Thursday. DBS fell 1.7 per cent or S$0.52 to S$31.10, OCBC lost 0.2 per cent or S$0.02 to S$12.30, and UOB declined 0.5 per cent or S$0.14 to S$27.98.
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