Singapore stocks end higher on Thursday despite S-Reit stumble; STI gains 0.4%

[SINGAPORE] Singapore shares closed higher on Thursday (Jan 15), despite a decline in overall sentiment and a pullback in major Singapore-listed real estate investment trusts (S-Reits).

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 20.83 points or 0.4 per cent to 4,833.34.

Across the wider Singapore market, however, decliners outnumbered advancers 335 to 277, with 1.4 billion shares worth S$1.5 billion changing hands.

Singapore’s blue-chip index was lifted by top performer Venture Corp , which climbed 2.7 per cent or S$0.44 to close at S$16.50.

The biggest loser on the STI was CapitaLand Ascendas Reit , which fell 1.4 per cent or S$0.04 to S$2.84.

Other top STI decliners were Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust , Keppel DC Reit and Mapletree Logistics Trust , which shed between 0.7 and 1 per cent on Thursday.

S-Reit peers Mapletree Industrial Trust lost 0.5 per cent, while Frasers Centrepoint Trust and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust each shed 0.4 per cent.

Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust , which closed flat, was the only blue-chip S-Reit not to register a loss on Thursday.

The trio of local banks ended mixed. DBS gained 1 per cent or S$0.57 to S$58.89 and OCBC rose 1.2 per cent or S$0.24 to S$20.37, while UOB lost 0.3 per cent or S$0.11 to finish at S$36.40.

Meanwhile, the iEdge Singapore Next 50 Index rose 0.2 per cent to 1,493.02.

Key Asian markets ended mixed. South Korea’s Kospi surged 1.6 per cent, after the Bank of Korea held interest rates, signalling an end to a more than year-long easing cycle, and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index gained 0.3 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.4 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.3 per cent.

Fidelity International portfolio manager Jochen Breuer noted that corporate governance reforms across key Asian markets “create fertile ground” for investors.

“Many investors assume that markets outside the US offer fewer compelling opportunities, but this is simply not the case. The global value chain enabling artificial intelligence, like chip manufacturing, data storage, testing equipment and hardware infrastructure, is overwhelmingly centred in Asia and Europe,” he said.