Singapore stocks end higher on Thursday, STI up 0.5%

LOCAL shares capped Thursday on a more upbeat note, as investors appeared to be buoyed by cues from the Federal Reserve officials about a shift towards ending their asset buying programme and raising their interest rates in 2022.

The central bank on Wednesday (Dec 15) said it will double its pace of tapering, which puts the bank in a position to raise interest rates earlier than expected if necessary to fight against price pressures, even with the ongoing pandemic.

Financial markets in Asia reacted in kind, taking their cue from the US stock markets. The benchmark Straits Times Index rose 0.5 per cent or 13.92 points to finish Thursday at 3,128.80. Advancers outpaced decliners 265 to 202, after 941 million stocks worth S$979.1 million changed hands.

Elsewhere in Asia, the Nikkei 225 was up 2.1 per cent; the Hang Seng Index gained 0.2 per cent, and the KLCI added 0.1 per cent. The Kospi also gained 0.6 per cent.

Oanda senior market analyst Edward Moya said: "US stocks turned positive after the Fed doubled the pace of tapering and forecasted 3 rate hikes in 2022 and another 3 increases in 2023.

"Financial markets were nervous the Fed was going to exercise caution with a doubling of the taper pace, which would have been a policy mistake."

The trio of local lenders came out tops on Thursday. DBS was the top advancer, rising 1.4 per cent or S$0.43 to S$32.33. UOB was a close second, adding 1.3 per cent or S$0.35 to S$27.03, while OCBC gained 0.8 per cent or S$0.09 to S$11.38.

Isetan was the biggest loser on Thursday, after the group announced that its plans to sell Wisma Atria fell through. The counter ended the day at S$3.69, down 10.4 per cent or S$0.43.

The latest round of property cooling measures dragged Singapore-listed property players into the red. City Developments sank 2.7 per cent or S$0.19 to S$6.88; Hongkong Land fell 1.9 per cent or US$0.10 to US$5.31, and Bukit Sembawang was down 2 per cent or S$0.10 to S$4.96. Propnex, too, fell 3.9 per cent or S$0.07 to S$1.71.

HGH Holdings was the most actively traded counter on Thursday, with some 48.6 million shares changing hands over the course of the day. The stock closed at S$0.015, up 15.4 per cent or S$0.002.

Other actively traded counters were Metech International, Singtel and Disa Limited.