SINGAPORE stocks rose on Friday (Aug 16) as regional stock markets rallied and recession fears among investors abated somewhat.
The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 1.1 per cent or 37.16 points to 3,352.89. Across the broader market, gainers beat losers 376 to 229 after 940.8 million securities worth S$1.3 billion changed hands.
Other Asian markets also rallied on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 3.6 per cent, while South Korea’s Kospi rose 2 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 1.9 per cent.
RHB acting group chief economist and head of market research Barnabas Gan said in a note on Friday that the market’s previous recession fears were “clearly overstated”.
He noted that market swaps have been pricing in lower rate-cut expectations, from a 100 to 125 basis-point cut on Aug 5 to 75 to 100 basis points by the end of 2024.
“Suffice it to say, market swap pricing had been consistently wrong since the start of the year, whereby the initial call for six federal funds rate cuts seen at the beginning of this year did not materialise in any form,” he said, adding that the relatively quicker normalisation of US non-farm payroll data injects a “strong bias” for a rate cut in September.
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On the STI, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust was the top gainer, rising 2.4 per cent or S$0.03 to S$1.27.
CapitaLand Investment also performed strongly, gaining 2.4 per cent or S$0.06 to S$2.57.
The trio of banks were also in the black. DBS was up 2.3 per cent or S$0.80 at S$35.56, while OCBC rose 2.1 per cent or S$0.29 to S$14.31, and UOB climbed 1.3 per cent or S$0.40 to S$30.43.
Meanwhile, Singtel was at the bottom of the table. It shed 1.3 per cent or S$0.04 to S$2.98.
