Blue chips close lower in Singapore; STI slides 0.2%

[SINGAPORE] Brent crude price movements continue to hold equities to ransom on Thursday (Mar 12), with Singapore blue-chip stocks declining after the oil surged above US$100 a barrel.

The Straits Times Index (STI) closed 8.48 points or 0.2 per cent lower at 4,855.33, while the iEdge Singapore Next 50 Index rose eight points or 0.6 per cent to 1,445.12.

DFI Retail Group : D01 -5.26% was the worst STI performer with a US$0.25 or 5.3 per cent fall to US$4.50. Meanwhile, its holding company Jardine Matheson : J36 +2.21% topped the blue-chip tally with a gain of US$1.65 or 2.2 per cent, finishing at US$76.31.

The banking trio were mixed. OCBC : O39 -0.53% was S$0.11 or 0.5 per cent lower at S$20.75, and DBS : D05 -0.63% declined S$0.35 or 0.6 per cent to S$55.37. UOB : U11 +0.42% ended S$0.15 or 0.4 per cent higher at S$36.24.

Decliners beat gainers 302 to 262 across the broader market, with 1.5 billion securities worth S$2 billion transacted.

The global benchmark Brent rocketed by over 10 per cent to US$101.59 a barrel on Thursday, while West Texas Intermediate rose to near US$96, fuelled by Iraq’s decision to stop operations at its oil ports after two tankers were targeted.

Iran also warned that oil prices could reach US$200 a barrel, as it continues to attack merchant ships in the Gulf.

Eli Lee, chief investment strategist at Bank of Singapore, said the private bank is downgrading Malaysia to “neutral” and the Philippines and Indonesia to “underweight”, but continues to favour Hong Kong, mainland China and Singapore.

“Although about half of China’s crude oil imports originate from the Gulf and pass through the Strait of Hormuz, China has accumulated one of the world’s largest strategic and commercial crude reserves,” he noted.