SINGAPORE shares finished in negative territory on Wednesday (Oct 30), before the Deepavali public holiday.
The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) ended 0.9 per cent or 31.48 points down at 3,558.88.
On the local bourse, decliners outnumbered advancers 344 to 217, as 1.4 billion securities worth S$1.7 billion changed hands.
Hongkong Land had a strong showing at the top of the index as it closed up 10.8 per cent or US$0.42 at US$4.31. This comes on the heels of the property group’s announcement on Tuesday that it will exit the build-to-sell residential development business and pivot towards fund management.
Conglomerate Jardine Matheson, of which Hongkong Land is a part, also finished higher, gaining 5.1 per cent or US$1.88 to US$38.50.
The STI’s biggest loser was ST Engineering, which closed down 2.2 per cent or S$0.10 at S$4.54.
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The three local banks ended lower on Wednesday. DBS fell 1.6 per cent or S$0.63 to S$38.66, and UOB dropped 1.8 per cent or S$0.59 to S$32.16. OCBC lost 1.6 per cent or S$0.24 to S$15.19.
Most regional indices were in the red. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.6 per cent, while South Korea’s Kospi Composite Index slid 0.9 per cent. The Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index went down 0.8 per cent.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 extended its rally with a 1 per cent gain on Wednesday, after the coalition led by the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) failed to secure a majority seating in the lower house.
Kelvin Wong, senior market analyst at Oanda, said the “biggest risk” now comes from the main opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) of Japan, mounting a political challenge to the LDP leadership.
“Some of CDP’s proposed policies are financial income taxation and tax increases, which may trigger a negative sentiment towards the Japanese stock market,” he said in a note.
