Singapore Equities Pull Back from Record High

Singapore's stocks fell 41 points, or 0.7%, to 5,672 in Thursday morning deals, as traders took profit after the index hit a new record high a day earlier, mainly weighed down by the communication services, transportation, retail trade, and financial sectors. The broader index tracked a decline on Wall Street overnight after the Fed maintained interest rates for a fifth consecutive meeting. Traders were cautious ahead of the release of Q2 business confidence figures later today and unemployment data, as well as China's PMI on Friday. However, the attractiveness of dividend-paying stocks and easing oil prices capped the decline despite the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Among the early decliners were Hongkong Land (-2.1%), OCBC (-2.0%), DBS Group Holdings (-0.7%), Venture Corp (-0.7%), and UOB (-0.4%).

Singapore's stocks rose 23 points, or 0.4%, to a record high of 5,640 in Wednesday morning trade, after being flat in the previous session, hitting a fresh record high, mainly boosted by gains in the communication services, technology, and financial sectors. Strong domestic economic data, political stability, and the attractiveness of dividend-paying stocks buoyed the index, with gains in banking stocks offsetting the negative sentiment from the global tech selloff. Traders shrugged off the MAS's tightening of monetary policy on Monday, while hoping the meeting between US President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu could ease tensions in the Middle East amid rising oil prices. However, traders remained cautious ahead of the Fed's monetary policy decision, China's PMI data, and Singapore's Q2 unemployment rate. Among the top gainers were Hongkong Land Holdings (3.7%), Jardine Matheson (2.0%), Keppel (1.5%), City Developments (1.3%), OCBC (1.1%), UOB (0.8%), and DBS (0.5%).

Singapore's equities fell 27 points, or 0.5%, to 5,594 in Tuesday morning deals, as traders took profit after the index hit a record high in the previous session. The broader index tracked a decline in US stock futures amid a global tech selloff. Traders were also cautious ahead of the Fed's monetary policy decision while anticipating the release of US Q2 GDP and China's PMI data due this week. Monday's data also continued to pressure market sentiment, as Singapore's manufacturing production grew the least in four months in June while the Monetary Authority of Singapore tightened its monetary policy again. Health technology, non-energy minerals, communication, and financial sectors mainly weighed on the index, with notable losses from United Overseas Bank (-1.5%), Venture Corp. (-1.4%), DBS Group Holdings (-1.1%), Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (-1.0%), and Hongkong Land Holdings (-1.0%).