STI down 0.42%; Asian markets end mixed

THE Singapore market sank further on Friday (Jan 28), tracking Wall Street losses amid worries over inflation and monetary tightening. The Straits Times Index (STI) fell 0.42 per cent or 13.7 points to close at 3,246.33.

Gainers trailed losers 214 to 256, with 1.13 billion securities worth S$2.15 billion changing hands.

However, IG market strategist Yeap Jun Rong said STI's uptrend "remains intact for now", with near-term support potentially at the 3,245 level.

Some profit-taking may have taken place over the past few days considering its relative strength index previously at the "oversold" level, he said, and that it has surged 7.4 per cent since end-December last year.

Keppel Corporation BN4 was the top performer on the STI by a far notch, gaining 6.05 per cent or S$0.32 to end at S$5.61. This comes after it posted a 6-year high net profit of S$1 billion for FY2021 on Thursday. Shares of the conglomerate rose as much as 8.3 per cent to S$5.73 in early morning trade. The counter was also one of the actively traded among index constituents throughout the day, with 19.9 million shares changing hands.

At the bottom of the table was Mapletree Commercial Trust N2IU , which fell 2.16 per cent or S$0.04 to close at S$1.81.

Singapore banks had a mixed showing, with OCBC O39 up 0.32 per cent to S$12.42, UOB U11 shedding 0.6 per cent to S$29.95 and DBS D05 falling 1.25 per cent to S$34.82. DBS had said on Friday that it is buying Citigroup's consumer banking business in Taiwan, a move that the bank's chief executive said would accelerate its growth in the country by at least 10 years.

Equities in the region closed mixed. Stocks in Japan rebounded from sharp losses in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 up 2.09 per cent. South Korea's benchmark Kospi was up 1.87 per cent, but the index had sunk 6.03 per cent for the week, its sharpest loss since mid-March 2020.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index, despite starting the day with small gains, ended down 1.08 per cent, while the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index added 0.27 per cent.