Singapore stocks end first trading day of the week in the red, STI down 0.2%

SINGAPORE equities ended the first trading day of February in the red as investors remained fairly cautious after a retreat over on Wall Street and the declaration of a year-long state of emergency by Myanmar's military after the country's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior officials were detained.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) shed 0.2 per cent or 6.2 points to finish the day at 2,896.32. On the broader market, decliners narrowly edged out advancers 239 to 234 after some 2.23 billion securities worth S$1.44 billion changed hands.

Yet, Axi's chief global market strategist Stephen Innes argued that the case for a broad-based global economic recovery remains intact amid the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines and new fiscal stimulus from the US.

Said Mr Innes: "Despite all the GameStop noise that will hopefully fade as quickly as it arrived but with many economic speed bumps that lay in wait, it is essential to review the past week to establish a path forward and as equally important to focus on the market two prime directives.

"Assuming one and two roll-outs as planned, the most likely scenario is still for a steep economic recovery starting in early summer with massive tail risks of at least temporary inflationary overshoot."

iFast was the biggest advancer for the day after its announcement on Saturday that PCCW Solutions - the IT flagship of PCCW Group - won the tender for Hong Kong's eMPF platform. The counter ended the day at S$6.37, up S$0.86 or S$15.6 per cent.

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The trio of lenders also ended the day in the black. DBS added 0.2 per cent or S$0.06 to S$25.24; UOB advanced 0.7 per cent or S$0.17 to S$23.55, and OCBC gained 0.5 per cent or S$0.05 to S$10.37.

Members of the Jardine Group of companies were among the biggest decliners. Jardine Strategic Holdings fell 2.7 per cent or US$0.69 to US$25.30, while Jardine Matheson Holdings lost 0.4 per cent or US$0.20 to finish the day at US$57.60. Jardine Cycle and Carriage lost 1.2 per cent or S$0.26 to S$21.30.

CapitaLand, too, was among the biggest losers. The counter fell 2.5 per cent or S$0.08 to S$3.13 on Monday.

Oceanus was the most heavily traded counter for the day, with some 374 million shares changing hands. The stock closed at 6.2 Singapore cents, up 12.7 per cent or 0.7 cent.

Other counters that saw heavy trading were Jiutian Chemical, Sembcorp Marine and Singtel.

Across the region, markets generally had a positive start to the week. The Nikkei 225 rose 1.6 per cent, the Hang Seng Index added 2.2 per cent and the Jakarta Composite Index advanced 3.5 per cent.