Singapore stocks gain on Tuesday as regional markets end mixed; STI up 1.1%

SINGAPORE stocks closed higher on Tuesday (Mar 26), amid mixed trading in the region.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 1.1 per cent or 35.23 points to close at 3,233.33.

Across the broader market, advancers outnumbered decliners 333 to 210, with 1.9 billion securities worth S$1.3 billion having changed hands.

The biggest gainer on the STI was Seatrium : S51 0%, which gained 3.9 per cent or S$0.003 to close at S$0.081.

It was also the most actively traded counter by volume on Tuesday; 953.4 million shares worth S$77.4 million were traded.

Another top gainer was Keppel : BN4 0%, which rose 1.9 per cent or S$0.14 to close at S$7.44.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

The biggest decliner on the index was DFI Retail Group : D01 0%, which fell by 1.9 per cent or US$0.04 to close at US$2.07.

Elsewhere in the region, South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.7 per cent, after hitting a two-year high earlier in the day. Other indices that closed higher were Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, which climbed 0.9 per cent, and the Shanghai Composite Index, which rose 0.2 per cent.

However, both Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Australia’s ASX 200 were down 0.04 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.

In a note on Tuesday, Vasu Menon, the managing director of investment strategy at OCBC, said that investors are slowly coming to terms with the possibility that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) may not cut rates anytime soon.

Menon said that this recalibration will cause greater market volatility in the short term.

However, it may not derail markets in the medium term, provided the economy slows down while avoiding a hard landing, inflation cools further and the Fed cuts rates progressively over the next three years.

“Historically, such a backdrop has been positive for risk assets like equities and high yield bonds in the medium term,” said Menon.