SINGAPORE – Investors here and across the region were not inspired by Wall Street’s rebound overnight and let local issues dictate sentiment on April 12.
The outcome was a fall in the Straits Times Index (STI) of 0.3 per cent or 10.7 points to 3,216.91, with losers outpacing gainers 325 to 256 on trade of 1.5 billion shares worth $893.1 million.
The STI’s biggest gainer was Jardine Cycle & Carriage, up 0.7 per cent to $26.90, while shipbuilder Seatrium was at the other end of the spectrum, falling 3.6 per cent to 8.1 cents. Seatrium was also the most active by volume, with 291.2 million shares traded.
Most regional bourses were in the red despite Wall Street’s tech-led rally after falls on April 10, sparked by fears interest rates would stay higher for longer.
The Nasdaq led the way, surging 1.7 per cent to an all-time high, while the S&P 500 added 0.7 per cent, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.01 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 2.2 per cent, the Kospi in Seoul dipped 0.9 per cent, and the ASX 200 in Australia dropped 0.3 per cent but still ended the week up 0.2 per cent.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 bucked the trend, adding 0.2 per cent.
The mixed sessions come as US inflation data earlier this week showed that consumer prices in March were up 0.4 per cent from February and 3.5 per cent from a year earlier, both slightly above expectations.
Mr Barnabas Gan, RHB’s head of market research and acting group chief economist, said he does not expect US core inflation to touch 2 per cent by the year end: “We keep US full-year headline inflation at 3 per cent, with upside risks towards 3.2 per cent, thus suggesting that inflation will continue to persist in the year ahead.”
He expects two rate cuts of 25 basis points each later in 2024. THE BUSINESS TIMES
