Singapore stocks edge down on Friday; STI down 0.1%

THE Straits Times Index (STI) lost 0.1 per cent or 2.96 points to 3,123.68 points on Friday (Dec 31).

In the wider market, gainers outnumbered losers 227 to 151, with 488.8 million shares worth S$313.2 million changing hands on the final trading day of the year .

"Glaring dissonance between aggressive bull markets and nascent but fragile, stimulus-dependent global recovery, further challenged by impending policy tightening as surging inflation hijacks the agenda, is not in and of itself a revelation. Rather, it's a predictable consequence of unbridled pump-priming inundating asset markets with record liquidity," said Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank.

The best performer on the STI was Keppel DC Reit, which rose 0.8 per cent or S$0.02 to S$2.47.

At the bottom of the table was Hongkong Land, which fell 1.5 per cent or US$0.08 to US$5.20.

In the broader Singapore market, digital security firm Disa saw the highest trading volume for the second straight day. The counter jumped 16.7 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.007 with 30.4 million shares traded.

The trio of local banks saw mixed performance. DBS closed flat at S$32.66, UOB fell 0.4 per cent or S$0.10 to S$26.90 while OCBC climbed 0.2 per cent or S$0.02 to S$11.40.

Elsewhere in  Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed 1.2 per cent higher while the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ended up 1.6 per cent after a late rally. 

The Japan and South Korea markets were closed.