STI sees subdued trading session, down 0.08%

SINGAPORE shares put up a muted trading performance on Monday, with the Straits Times Index (STI) closing the day barely changed at 2,616.30, down 0.08 per cent or 2.18 points. 

On the Singapore bourse, losers outnumbered gainers 238 to 213, after about 1.44 billion securities worth S$982.60 million changed hands. 

Oanda senior market analyst for the Asia-Pacific Jeffrey Halley had expected Asia's trading session today to be "characterised by investors taking some risk off the table, with a lack of data concentrating attention on Covid-19 risks". 

The STI's performance was in line with regional benchmarks, which posted relatively subdued performances. 

Pan Jingyi, market strategist at IG, said: "Asia markets are looking to a muted start to the week, caught between growing Covid-19 cases around the globe while looking to the series of earnings releases this week."

Among the STI constituents, the top two performers were Ascendas Reit (real estate investment trust) and Wilmar International, with both counters closing up 1.2 per cent each at S$3.33 and S$4.35 respectively. The two counters were also among the five STI constituents with consistent momentum in recent years, said the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Monday. 

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The other three counters were Venture Corporation which ended up 0.8 per cent; Mapletree Industrial Trust closed 0.3 per cent higher and Mapletree Logistics Trust closed the day flat. 

These five counters averaged 3 per cent returns for first nine trading sessions in July and 11 per cent average total returns for 2020 in the year to date, said SGX. 

At the bottom of the STI table was Dairy Farm International, which ended the day at US$4.45, down US$0.12 or 2.6 per cent. 

Healthcare and pharmaceutical plays registered heavy trading with Medtecs International and Hyphens Pharma International emerging as the two most heavily traded stocks. Medtecs ended the day up 17.6 per cent at 73.5 Singapore cents; Hyphens Pharma was up 48.8 per cent at 62.5 Singapore cents.