STI dips 0.1% on Thursday as regional central banks hold rates steady

SINGAPORE shares fell on Thursday (Jun 20) as central banks in the region maintained their benchmark lending rates.

The People’s Bank of China left its one-year loan prime rate at 3.45 per cent, and its five-year rate at 3.95 per cent.

Meanwhile, Bank Indonesia maintained its interest rate at 6.25 per cent. It also left its deposit and lending benchmarks unchanged at 5.5 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively.

In Singapore, the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) slid 0.1 per cent or four points to close at 3,300.

Across the broader market, decliners outnumbered advancers 295 to 254, after one billion securities worth S$901 million changed hands.

The biggest gainer on the STI was offshore and marine company Seatrium, which rose 3.3 per cent or S$0.05 to close at S$1.55. The gains came after the company announced that it had settled its arbitration case with drilling contractor Awilco in relation to a drilling rig construction contract.

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Infrastructure company Keppel saw the biggest drop on the index. The counter fell by 1.7 per cent or S$0.11 to S$6.50.

Telco player Singtel was the most actively traded counter by volume, with 43.9 million shares worth S$115.4 million transacted. The counter rose 1.2 per cent or S$0.03 to finish at S$2.63.

Meanwhile, markets across the region ended mixed on Thursday.

Japan’s Nikkei was up by 0.2 per cent, South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.4 per cent, and Indonesia’s IDX Composite ended 1.4 per cent higher.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.5 per cent, as did the Shanghai Composite Index, which dipped 0.4 per cent.

Charu Chanana, the head of FX strategy at Saxo, said that the monetary policy stance of China’s central bank has remained accommodative even as economic pressures deepen in the nation.

However, the bank has “maintained a firm grip” on the yuan with its daily currency fixings and the yuan has not weakened significantly this year.

Chanana said that Chinese authorities were likely to remain cautious about sudden yuan weakness or devaluation to avoid being tagged as currency manipulators.