Asian markets tumble amid rising yields; STI down 0.1 %

SINGAPORE shares eased lower to end the trading week, mirroring the sea of red across major Asian markets on Friday.

It tracked overnight losses on Wall Street on Thursday, where the S&P 500 fell 1.5 per cent while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite plunged 3 per cent, amid a spike in treasury yields.

The Straits Times Index (STI) slipped 0.1 per cent or 3.12 points on Friday to 3,134.54, faring better than major regional indices.

Japan's Nikkei 225 and the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong both fell 1.4 per cent on Friday. South Korea's Kospi also finished 0.9 per cent lower, while Australia's ASX 200 slipped 0.6 per cent.

"With commodities ex-oil holding up despite a stronger US dollar and steeper yield curves positive for banking sector profitability, Asean and Australian markets - to a lesser extent - should continue to outperform," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda.

He added that North Asian markets remained more vulnerable, with their markets "highly susceptible to large scale retail flows and dominated by technology behemoths".

Jardine Strategic (JS) was one of the top STI gainers, rising 1.7 per cent to US$33.87 - above the US$33 offer price made by Jardine Matheson (JM).

The Securities Investors Association (Singapore), said on Thursday that it is arranging for individual shareholders of JS who are against the acquisition by JM to connect with institutional shareholders to be collectively represented by Bermuda lawyers.

Local banks DBS and OCBC were among the gainers on Friday, rising 0.5 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively. UOB fell 0.2 per cent.

Finishing at the bottom of the index was CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, which fell 2.7 per cent to close at S$2.18.

Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered decliners 243 to 234, after 2.54 billion securities worth S$2.47 billion changed hands on Friday.

For the week, the STI was up 1.3 per cent, marking the fourth consecutive week of gains for the index.