Singapore shares slid in line with the declines recorded at most Asian bourses on Tuesday (Jan 17), amid reports of the Republic’s December exports having experienced their steepest decline in a decade.
The Strait Times Index (STI) was down 3.09 points or 0.1 per cent to 3,280.51 points – the second day in a row that the blue-chip barometer has dropped.
Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports declined by 20.6 per cent in December, dragged by a fall in electronic and non-electronic shipments, as well as a decline in deliveries to most of the Republic’s top 10 key markets, data published on Tuesday showed.
Selena Ling, chief economist at OCBC Bank, said that global demand conditions are likely to continue to be weighed down in the first quarter of this year, unless global central banks explicitly pivot to a rate pause, and recession worries abate.
Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust (MPACT) : N2IU +2.86% units closed at S$1.80, up 2.9 per cent. This made it the top STI gainer, as optimism surrounding China’s reopening buoyed prospects for the real estate investment trust, The Business Times cited.
Shares of semiconductor testing company AEM : AWX +1.84% rose 1.8 per cent to S$3.32. A Citi report following its analyst’s visit to AEM’s recently opened plant in Penang supported its conviction that the company’s medium-term potential remains intact. Still, Citi has cut its FY2023-24 earnings estimates for AEM by 16 per cent, to reflect uncertainty arising from cautious near-term capital expenditure by the group’s customers.
In the broader market, gainers beat decliners 257 to 243, with 729.9 million securities worth S$862.5 million transacted.
