STI ekes out 0.25% gain despite re-tightening of Covid-19 measures

SINGAPORE shares rose on Wednesday even as the city state faces another round of tightened Covid-19 measures.

The local blue chip benchmark *STI ended the day up 0.25 per cent or 7.80 points at 3,119.

Across the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 283 to 204, with 1.75 billion securities worth S$1.52 billion changing hands.

IG market strategist Yeap Jun Rong said that current Covid-19 restrictions, accompanied by recent weakness in global markets, brings about a "downward bias" for the index.

"With the renewed restrictions, Singapore may have to continue to depend on its foreign exports demand to drive its economic recovery," said Mr Yeap.

However, DBS Group Research said in a note that it does not see the tighter measures to stem the spread of Covid-19 as a major setback to Singapore's "pandemic-to-endemic plan". It added that there are opportunities for investors to buy domestic reopening themes on a pullback.

Among the STI's constituents, C31 emerged as the top performer for the day, with shares gaining 3.1 per cent or S$0.12 to S$4. It had on Wednesday morning announced that its wholly owned lodging business unit has secured over 8,300 units across more than 30 properties in the first seven months of 2021.

At the bottom of the table were pandemic laggards Genting Singapore G13 , Sats S58 and Singapore Airlines C6L . Genting Singapore dipped 1.8 per cent or 1.5 Singapore cents to 80.5 cents. It was also the most heavily traded counter on the blue chip index with over 37 million shares changing hands.

Sats was down 1.3 per cent or S$0.05 to S$3.78 while SIA shed 1 per cent or S$0.05 to S$4.80.

Elsewhere in Asia it was a mixed bag. Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 0.58 per cent while the Jakarta Composite Index gained 0.21 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dipped 0.13 per cent; South Korea's Kospi shed 0.52 per cent and the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index ended 0.23 per cent lower.