STI down 0.8% on Wednesday as Asia equities ignore overnight Wall Street rally

SINGAPORE stocks fell on Wednesday (Jun 22) as Asian markets ignored the overnight Wall Street rally and slumped ahead of US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell’s testimony to further drive expectations of policy outlook and inflation.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) moved down 0.8 per cent or 24.17 points to 3,093.31. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 343 to 173 after 1.43 billion securities worth S$1.18 billion changed hands. 

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and South Korea’s Kospi sustained greater losses, retreating 2.6 per cent and 2.7 per cent respectively, while major indexes in Japan, Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia closed 0.2 per cent and 1.7 per cent lower. 

Oanda’s senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley said the abrupt about-turn by US futures on Wednesday could be behind the slump in Asian equities. 

While the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones indexes all booked healthy gains of over 2 per cent, US index futures in Asia are “telling a story of fast-money locking” in short-term overnight gains as the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq futures all headed south, he pointed out.

“Asia-Pacific markets, ex Taipei and Seoul, appear content to adopt a wait-and-see approach this week, letting the dust settle on the Powell testimony,” he added.

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Among STI constituents, multinational conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings : J36 0% (JMH) was the biggest gainer, closing 1.5 per cent or US$0.75 higher at US$51.90. Trailing behind is Mapletree Commercial Trust : N2IU 0%, which closed up 1.1 per cent or S$0.02 at S$1.81.

Finishing at the bottom of the STI performance table were JMH’s investment holding company Jardine Cycle & Carriage : C07 0%, which shed 2.7 per cent or S$0.80 to close at S$29.09, and CapitaLand Investment, which lost 2.4 per cent or S$0.09 to close at S$3.72.

The 3 local banks all closed lower. OCBC : O39 0% slipped 1.2 per cent or S$0.14 to close at S$11.36; DBS : D05 0% closed at S$29.96, falling 1 per cent or S$0.29; while UOB : U11 0% ended 0.9 per cent or S$0.23 lower at S$26.62.

In the broader market, the most actively traded counter by volume was Sembcorp Marine : S51 0%, which closed down 4.5 per cent or S$0.005 at S$0.106 after some 141.9 million of its shares worth S$15.4 million exchanged hands.