Singapore stocks fall on Wednesday, bucking regional trend as OCBC drags STI down

[SINGAPORE] Stocks closed lower on Wednesday (Feb 23) even as the Asia-Pacific markets recovered some of their losses after the US and its allies settled on a modest "first tranche" of penalties over Russia's incursion into disputed Ukrainian territory.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) fell 0.2 per cent or 7.58 points to close at 3,393; major indices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia closed up between 0.5 per cent and 0.9 per cent.

Oanda senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley said Asian markets were "cautiously higher" after a torrid week so far, and it was weak results from OCBC O39 that pushed Singapore lower.

The bank tumbled 6.3 per cent to a low of S$12.33 at the open, and eventually closed 4.6 per cent or S$0.60 lower at S$12.56, having missed estimates with a 14 per cent drop in net profit from the year before to S$973 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2021.

In contrast, the two other local banks, DBS D05 and UOB U11 , closed up 0.7 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively.

Markets will likely "bubble along sideways" now until Russia President Vladimir Putin makes his next move, Halley noted.

Apart from OCBC, Sembcorp Industries U96 also dragged the STI down as it shed 2 per cent or S$0.05 to close at S$2.46. The energy and urban development company posted a net profit of S$233 million for the second half of its financial year ended Dec 31, 2021, reversing its loss of S$866 million a year ago.

Keppel DC Reit AJBU was the top STI performer, gaining 2.3 per cent to close at S$2.19.

Singtel Z74 was among the most actively traded counters by volume, after it announced plans to jointly redevelop its Comcentre headquarters with a developer. Its shares closed flat at S$2.56, with 25.8 million shares worth S$66 million having changed hands.

Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 305 to 174 after 1.4 billion securities worth S$1.4 billion changed hands.