Across the broader market, decliners exceed advancers 359 to 216, as 1.4 billion securities worth S$1.4 billion change hands
[SINGAPORE] The Straits Times Index (STI) fell 0.2 per cent or 7.88 points to end Friday (Sep 26) at 4,265.98. It mirrored declines in most Asian markets, after a sharp upward revision in US growth dented hopes of more interest rate cuts.
Gross domestic product rose at an upwardly revised 3.8 per cent annualised rate in the second quarter, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis said in its third GDP estimate on Thursday. The economy was initially reported to have grown at a 3.3 per cent pace.
“On the surface, strong GDP should be good news, but the problem is, such strong growth doesn’t support further Federal Reserve rate cuts, and it could even boost inflation expectations on top of potential tariff-led pressures,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.
“Understandably, October rate cut expectations took a hit after the GDP release. The probability of a cut fell from around 94 per cent to below 88 per cent,” she added.
In the wider Singapore market, losers beat gainers 359 to 216, after 1.4 billion securities worth S$1.4 billion changed hands.
The biggest gainer among the STI constituents was City Developments Ltd , which advanced 0.4 per cent or S$0.03 to S$6.83.
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Airport services and inflight catering provider Sats was the worst performer on Singapore’s blue-chip index. It fell 1.8 per cent or S$0.06 to end at S$3.35.
The trio of local banks closed little changed. DBS inched up 0.04 per cent or S$0.02 to S$50.29, UOB was up 0.1 per cent or S$0.03 at S$34.39, and OCBC nudged down 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$16.25.
Elsewhere in Asia, key markets ended the week mostly lower. South Korea’s Kospi was the region’s worst performer, slumping 2.5 per cent, followed by Taiwan’s Taiex, which shed 1.7 per cent.
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Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.4 per cent and the CSI 300 Index that tracks the 300 biggest stocks in mainland China slid nearly 1 per cent, as new US tariffs against pharmaceutical imports hurt confidence. Traders are also looking to close positions ahead of the Golden Week holiday in China.
