Singapore stocks reverse gains; STI down 0.8%

SINGAPORE shares extended their losses on Wednesday after opening in negative territory. The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) ended the day down 0.82 per cent or 26.19 points at 3,161.04.

This comes as Wall Street finished little changed on Tuesday. IG market strategist Yeap Jun Rong said on Wednesday that the "selling towards the second half of the session for major US indexes overnight may suggest that investors seem to be taking some risk off the markets, ahead of the jobs report this week".

Locally, among the STI constituents, the trio of banks ended the day in the red. O39 was top decliner, falling 1.51 per cent or S$0.19 to end at S$12.37. D05 slipped 1.42 per cent or S$0.43 to close at S$29.92. U11 closed down 0.68 per cent or S$0.18 at S$26.13.

G13 emerged at the top of the index, gaining 1.17 per cent or S$0.01 to end at S$0.865. This follows its announcement that it was one of the two qualifying parties for the Yokohama integrated resort request-for-proposal earlier this week.

BUOU came in second, rising 0.71 per cent or S$0.01 to close at S$1.42.

On the broader market, decliners outnumbered advancers 260 to 234 for the day, with 2.33 billion securities worth S$1.28 billion changing hands.

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Nonetheless, DBS Group Research said in a note on Wednesday that it has lifted its STI year-end target by 4.5 per cent to 3,325, up from the previous 3,180.

"Only six out of 30 index component stocks are directly affected by the tighter measures. The Singapore government has kept its 2021 GDP growth forecast at 4 to 6 per cent, as stronger-than-expected Q1 and an improving external environment may offset the Q2 slowdown due to the current anti-Covid measures," said analysts Yeo Kee Yan, Janice Chua and Chung Wei Le.

Across the region, Asian markets ended the day mixed.

The Nikkei 225 index gained 0.46 per cent or 131.80 points to close at 28,946.14; the benchmark Kospi extended its rally and rose 0.07 per cent or 2.36 points to 3,224.23.

On the other hand, Chinese markets ended the day in the red. The Hang Seng Index slipped 0.58 per cent or 170.38 points to end at 29,297.62, and the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.76 per cent or 27.58 points to 3,597.14.