SINGAPORE – There wasn’t much love lost for regional stocks on Valentine’s Day after Wall Street fell overnight on news that US inflation was stronger than expected.
Here, the Straits Times Index (STI) closed at 3,139.07, with decliners outnumbering advancers 282 to 270, with a loss of just 2.8, with 1.4 billion shares worth $1.23 billion traded. Limiting it to a point or 0.1% was some consolation.
The optimism came after the U.S. consumer price index beat expectations in January, underscoring continued inflationary pressures and dashing hopes for an early interest rate cut.
Stephen Innes, Managing Partner at SPI Asset Management, said: “The persistence of price pressures…is not surprising.
“With the expanding labor market, consumer sentiment rebounding sharply since November, and rising house prices, it would be surprising not to see inflation pick up again. But many were caught off guard. ”
Indexes in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Australia all fell, but Hong Kong stocks rose after trading resumed after the Lunar New Year holiday.
Losses here were led by Jardine Matheson Holdings and Jardine Cycle & Carriage, but banks were mixed.
DBS Bank rose 0.3% to $32.57, UOB rose 0.4% to $28.32 and OCBC Bank was unchanged at $12.95.
Rex International was the second most actively traded stock on the day, falling 11.1% to 12.8 cents on volume of 49 million shares. This came after the company announced that preliminary research showed a net loss for the 2023 fiscal year.
Singapore Airlines extended its impressive gains on February 13 to end 0.7% higher at $7.14. The company is scheduled to release its third quarter business update on February 20th.
CGS-CIMB Research last month pointed to SIA’s strong earnings dynamics in the second half of fiscal 2024.
But the big surprise was the airline’s strong cargo performance in the second half of 2023, based on results announced a month earlier. Lower jet fuel costs are also a positive, the research organization said.business hours