Singapore shares rise to new high; STI up 0.3%
The STI's top gainer was City Developments, up 6.3 per cent to $5.92.
SINGAPORE – Concerns about US inflation failed to deter local investors from pushing the bourse to a new high and its third straight day of gains this week.
The optimism left the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) up 0.3 per cent or 12.43 points to 4,132.25 on July 16 – just shy of its intra-day peak of 4,132.41, with gainers outpacing losers 384 to 178 on trade of 1.5 billion securities worth $1.3 billion.
The STI's top gainer was City Developments, up 6.3 per cent to $5.92. The property developer's shares surged after it announced that director Philip Yeo, who had backed executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng in his boardroom battle against his son, would be retiring.
The biggest decliner was CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, which fell 1.4 per cent to $2.19. The trust was also the most actively traded counter by volume, with 27.3 million units traded.
Regional bourses mostly ended in the red, amid those signs of rising US inflation.
Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 0.04 per cent, South Korea's Kospi fell 0.9 per cent, the ASX 200 in Sydney retreated 0.8 per cent for its worst day since May 5 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 0.3 per cent.
The losses largely mirrored Wall Street overnight after reports showing inflation picked up in June, a potential sign that tariffs are having an impact.
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The S&P 500 edged 0.4 per cent, the Dow fell 1 per cent while the Nasdaq rose 0.18 per cent to a fresh high.
Mr Alvin Liew, senior economist at UOB, said that the higher consumer price index figures in the US for June show 'clearer marks of tariff-induced price increases'. However, he expects the Federal Reserve to remain patient in cutting interest rates amid uncertainty over the impact of US tariffs.
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