Singapore shares buck regional trend, STI up 0.13%

SINGAPORE shares advanced on Thursday (Nov 18), despite mounting inflation fears and the prospect of tightening monetary policies, which triggered sell-offs across Asia and Wall Street.

The Straits Times Index (STI) *STI ended up 0.13 per cent or 4.34 points to 3,237.02.

Still, losers outpaced gainers 233 to 231, with 1.89 billion shares worth S$960 million changing hands.

Wall Street's rally took a pause overnight, with the three major indices ending lower as inflationary pressures come into focus.

Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, said: "Decent retail earnings were unable to send US stocks back into a record-setting mode as cost pressures remain elevated for the foreseeable future.

"The S&P 500 index looks like it is going to be stuck in a range until investors feel confident that the Fed didn't make a policy mistake and won't be forced to raise rates sooner."

The dour sentiment on Wall Street left the region mostly in the red. Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 0.3 per cent; Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dipped 1.29 per cent; South Korea's Kospi declined 0.51 per cent; the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was down 0.09 per cent, and the Jakarta Composite Index slipped 0.59 per cent.

Over on the STI, Keppel Corporation BN4 and Venture Corporation V03 were the best-performing counters for the day. Keppel gained 0.9 per cent or S$0.05 to S$5.35; Venture was up 0.9 per cent or S$0.18 to S$19.30.

At the bottom of the table was Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust BUOU , which fell 1.3 per cent or S$0.02 to S$1.48.

Genting Singapore G13 was the most active counter on the blue-chip index with about 25.9 million shares changing hands. Its shares rose 0.6 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.835.

DBS D05 led gains among the trio of local banks, edging up 0.8 per cent or S$0.26 to S$32.47. UOB U11 gained 0.2 per cent or S$0.06 to S$27.64, and OCBC O39 ended flat at S$11.81.