Singapore market starts week in the red amid tighter Covid restrictions; STI down 1.3%

RENEWED restrictions amid a spike in coronavirus cases, particularly from the infamous KTV cluster, took a toll on market sentiment on Monday as caution turned investors bearish.

The benchmark Straits Times Index fell 1.3 per cent or 41.10 points to finish the day at 3,111.20. Across the broader market, the number of decliners came in at 366, more than double that of the 155 advancers, after some 1.42 billion securities worth S$1.16 billion changed hands.

It was a similar story across the region, with other markets ending in a sea of red on Monday. The KLCI fell 0.2 per cent; the Nikkei 225 slipped 1.3 per cent, while the Hang Seng Index fell 1.8 per cent. The Kospi and Jakarta Composite Index, too, lost 1 per cent and 0.9 per cent respectively.

Oanda's senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley said that "increasing nerves" about the more virulent Delta variant of the virus are "sapping recovery hopes across the Asia-Pacific". But this, he noted, was not unique to the region.

"Of course, you can choose your poison on that front globally, with the US, Europe, and the UK also experiencing rises in cases with populations pushing back on restrictions that seem to increase by the day in Asia-Pacific," he said.

IT consultancy services provider Azeus Systems Holdings BBW was the top advancer on Monday. The counter closed at S$2.24, up 7.7 per cent or S$0.16.

CapitaLand C31 's investors cheered the conglomerate's updates on its restructuring plans which said that CapitaLand Investment is aiming to ramp up its funds under management to S$100 billion by 2024 from S$78 billion in 2020, and its lodging business to 160,000 units under management by 2023 from 123,000 units in 2020. The stock ended Monday at S$3.88, up 1.8 per cent or S$0.07.

The trio of local lenders were among the biggest decliners on Monday. DBS D05 shed 1.8 per cent or S$0.54 to S$29.58; UOB U11 lost 1.5 per cent or S$0.40 to S$25.69; and OCBC O39 fell 1.7 per cent or S$0.21 to S$11.86.

Sembcorp Marine S51 was the most heavily traded counter by volume on Monday, with 66.7 million shares changing hands over the course of the day. The counter fell 0.9 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to close at 11.4 cents.

Other heavily traded stocks included Jiutian Chemical C8R , Rex International 5WH and Oceanus Group 579 .