STI falls 0.88% despite overnight Wall Street rally

SINGAPORE shares fell on Thursday despite Wall Street's overnight rally, prompted by rising expectations for loose monetary policy ahead of US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell's speech.

The Straits Times Index fell 0.88 per cent or 22.27 points to close at 2,519.81.

The STI's performance was in line with that of most exchanges in the region, amid fresh US-China tensions, which Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at AxiCorp, said had "clouded overall sentiment in Asia".

Escalation of US-China tensions is expected, following four missiles fired by Beijing into the disputed South China Sea, and US sanctions on several Chinese firms linked to the disputed region.

Meanwhile, all eyes are will be on Chairman Powell's speech due at 9.10pm Singapore time.

Said Oanda senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley: "Financial markets are expecting the chairman to hint at lower rates for longer, and most importantly, to allow inflation targets to overshoot to get the average inflation up."

Decliners outpaced advancers 256 to 199, after some 2.53 billion securities worth S$1.20 billion changed hands here.

On the blue-chip index, ComfortDelGro was once again the best-performing counter, gaining 2.7 per cent or S$0.04 to S$1.50. It was also the most heavily traded stock with over 28 million shares changing hands.

Next in line was Wilmar International, which was up 1.8 per cent or S$0.08 to S$4.43. The agri-food giant had on Thursday obtained a S$200 million corporate loan pegged to the Singapore Overnight Rate Average (SORA) from DBS.

Only two other STI constituents ended the day in the black. They were Thai Beverage, which edged up 0.8 per cent to S$0.61, and Genting Singapore, which rose 0.7 per cent to 70.5 Singapore cents.

The STI's laggards were Singapore Airlines and the Reits (real estate investment trusts) and business trusts. Singapore Airlines found itself at the bottom of the table, falling 3.5 per cent or S$0.13 to S$3.63.

Following right behind were Mapletree Commercial Trust, CapitaLand Commercial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, CapitaLand Mall Trust and Ascendas Reit.