Singapore shares close slightly lower on Tuesday, STI down 0.1%

SINGAPORE shares finished Tuesday slightly lower as counters on the bourse traded sideways as investor optimism remained muted.

The benchmark Straits Times Index fell 1.42 points or 0.1 per cent to 2,856.72, after 2.18 billion securities worth S$1.37 billion changed hands. Decliners outnumbered advancers 248 to 189.

Regional stock markets too mostly closed lower. The Nikkei 225 lost 0.2 per cent; the Hang Seng Index fell 0.7 per cent, and the SSE Composite Index dipped 0.1 per cent. The KLCI bucked the trend, rising 0.7 per cent.

Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at Axi, noted that despite talks of vaccines and a US relief bill, stock markets were "not exactly firing higher".

He said: "Unless policymakers overdeliver on market expectation, especially at this time of year when our risk-taking proclivities give way to profit-taking, it seems virus-related economic restrictions will never cease to weigh as the market continues to straddle that fence between hope and reality."

Jardine Matheson Holdings and Jardine Strategic Holdings came out tops for the day. The former gained 1.2 per cent or US$0.65 to US$56.60, while the latter added 2.4 per cent or US$0.61 to finish the day at US$26.44.

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Among the constituents, supermarket and convenience-store operator Dairy Farm was the biggest advancer. The counter closed at US$4.25, up 2.4 per cent or US$0.10.

On the other end of the spectrum, ComfortDelGro was among the biggest constituent losers, shedding 1.8 per cent or S$0.03 to S$1.68. Venture Corporation was another counter among the top decliners, falling 1.2 per cent or S$0.23 to S$18.72.

The most heavily traded stock for the day was Sembcorp Marine, which had 312.9 million shares traded. The counter ended the day at 15.2 Singapore cents, down 6.8 per cent or 1.1 Singapore cents.

The trio of lenders ended the day mixed. OCBC fell 0.2 per cent or S$0.02 to S$10.11, while UOB lost 0.1 per cent or S$0.03 to close at S$22.89. DBS, however, gained 0.04 per cent or S$0.01 to S$25.46.

Over at Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 lost 0.6 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively, while the Nasdaq rose 0.5 per cent.