SINGAPORE equities finished higher on Friday (Feb 21) amid regional gains and a flurry of earnings reports.
The benchmark Straits Times Index added 0.1 per cent or 2.43 points to 3,929.94.
Across the broader market, losers beat gainers 277 to 270, as 1.5 billion securities worth S$1.7 billion changed hands.
Key indices climbed on Friday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped 4 per cent, buoyed by index constituent Alibaba, which soared more than 10 per cent on its earnings beating estimates. Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.3 per cent, and the Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index increased 0.9 per cent.
South Korea’s Kospi Composite Index ended flat.
In a Friday note, Bank of America Merrill Lynch‘s Asia economists Helen Qiao and Ting Him Ho said Asian economies face a “high risk of United States tariffs”, given the region’s trade surplus and tariff gaps with the US.
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“In the case of blanket tariffs, we estimate that for each 10 per cent drop in exports going to the US, each Asian economy may see the drag in GDP growth of an average of 0.2 per cent,” they estimated.
Back home, the top STI counter was urban solutions provider Sembcorp Industries, which added 3.8 per cent or S$0.21 to S$5.75.
On the other end of the index was maritime player Seatrium, which declined 4.8 per cent or S$0.12 to S$2.38.
Another index constituent, integrated resort operator Genting Singapore, fell 3.2 per cent or S$0.025 to S$0.75, after its H2 profit decreased 34 per cent to S$222 million.
CGS International analyst Tay Wee Kuang said that Genting’s management told analysts that profitability would likely be “pressured” in the first half of 2025, amid operations ramping up ahead of the opening of new attractions in the second half.
The three local banks ended mixed. DBS expanded 1.2 per cent or S$0.54 to S$46.62, OCBC ticked up 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$17.73, and UOB declined 0.1 per cent or S$0.05 to S$38.38.
