The Singapore stock index faced its 4th straight weekly loss on Friday, May 31, giving investors more reasons to worry. The decline came after United States President Donald Trump threatened to also hit Mexico with 5% tariffs on all goods.
Singapore’s Straits Time Index was down 19.63 points or 0.6 percent on Friday’s afternoon trading. This extends its losing streak to 4 weeks.
Adding to the worries of market players was China’s release of official purchasing managers index (PMI) figures. Although the country’s non-purchasing PMI was expected to contract in May, the final reading was more than expected. PMI stood at 49.4.
Mobile network operator Singtel’s stocks traded flat at $3.20. Singtel has outperformed the STI in recent sessions, as investors appear to be shifting to more defensively positioned equity portfolios. Moreover, local banks were mostly down. DBS Group Holdings lost 1.2 percent, trading at $24.31. OCBC Banks also continued its downtrend. It traded at $10.63, down 1 percent.
Moody’s Rating
Despite the recent poor performance of local banks, Moody’s has maintained that the 12-18 month outlook for the local banks remains stable (Aaa). The ratings agency’s vice-president and senior credit officer Eugene Tarzimanov remains positive on the outlook of local banks. He said, “Singapore banks will continue to show strong fundamentals across all aspects of their operations, despite a slowdown in economic growth in Singapore and broadly in Asia”.
Newly-listed Alliance Healthcare Group debuted on Friday morning, trading at 20 cents, with 1.52 million traded. The company’s listing on Singapore Exchange’s Catalist Board boosted the board’s market capitalization, now at about $9 billion, according to the bourse.
Other Asian markets were mixed. Japan and Hong Kong lost 0.8 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, Australia, China, and Malaysia added 0.4 percent, 0.1 percent, and 0.4 percent, respectively.
