Bookmark & Share
STOCK prices on the local bourse were confined to a tight trading range yesterday as investors awaited the release of United States job data for July, due out after the close of Asian trading today.
This data is seen as an important indicator of the health of the world's bellwether economy amid fresh worries over the pace of its recovery.
These concerns stalled the recent rise of the Singapore market, which had been driven by a slew of better-than-expected corporate results which had perked up investors' risk appetites considerably.
Yesterday, the benchmark Straits Times Index ended 5.33 points lower at 2,601.5, despite climbing 20 points at one stage. The index has now suffered three straight days of losses.
For many traders, the strategy was to 'buy on hope and sell on news', as they took profit on recent purchases after making huge bets that corporate earnings would surprise on the upside.
However, many were wary ahead of the US job data report. They fear a further rise in jobless numbers, following a downbeat report on Wednesday which showed an unexpectedly large contraction in US private payrolls in July.
This might, in turn, have an impact on the stricken US mortgage market and spook consumer spending there.
Given the preoccupation with the big economic picture, local lenders bore the brunt of the selling pressure.
United Overseas Bank lost 28 cents to $16.34, while DBS Group Holdings - due to report its numbers today - fell 10 cents to $13.30.
Singapore Exchange also succumbed to profit-taking, slipping 11 cents to $8.48, after reporting a 0.9 per cent rise in fourth-quarter profit to $91.17 million
On the broader market, however, a slew of brokerages' upgrades and corporate developments helped to spark buying interest in selected counters.
Shipbuilder Yangzijiang rose 8.5 cents to $1.03 on a volume of 118 million shares. DBS Vickers upgraded its call on the counter from 'fully valued' to 'buy', citing the better-than-expected second-quarter results and improved earnings visibility. Foreign brokerage CLSA raised its target on the stock from 75 cents to $1.
Wireless specialist Sinotel gained seven cents to 36 cents, with 49.1 million shares traded, after disclosing its intention to establish an American Depositary Receipt programme to allow the trading of its shares in the US. But it stressed this was only at the discussion stage.
Elsewhere in the region, Hong Kong shrugged off initial losses to climb 1.97 per cent, powered by a resurgent HSBC Holdings, which flagged its intention to list in Shanghai.
But the Shanghai Composite Index lost 2.11 per cent, spooked by selling pressure on financial stocks.
Trading in Shanghai has turned choppy in recent weeks, triggered by concerns that China might start tightening up on the massive lending made by mainland banks since the start of the year.
Market sentiment there was also dampened by a suspected bank fraud case involving up to 9.8 billion yuan (S$2.1 billion) in illegal loans from mainland lender Bank of Communications, according to Chinese media.
Search Property News
