Source: Lianhe Zaobao

2023-01-26 05:00

Due to the recent strong performance of US stocks, the local stock market has a bullish start in the Year of the Rabbit. The Straits Times Index (STI) successfully broke through the key resistance level of 3300 points on Wednesday (January 25th), with the index closing at 3352.77 points, up 59.06 points or 1.79%, leading the Asia-Pacific region.

During the CNY period, many Asian stock markets are closed. In the open markets, the Tokyo and Seoul stock markets rose by 1.39% and 0.35% respectively, while the Sydney stock market fell by 0.3%.

uSMART Securities market strategist, Huang Jia Ren, said that the results announced by major US companies were relatively good, driving the recent upward trend in US stocks. This optimistic sentiment led to a substantial rise in the STI on the first trading day after the CNY holidays. If the results of US companies are better than expected, the index is expected to continue to rise in the short term, otherwise, there will be a phenomenon of shorting. The next resistance level after the index stabilizes at 3300 points is 3400 points.

Huang Jia Ren also said that there is now an increased risk preference in the market, which is beneficial to sectors directly related to the economy and interest rates.

Dr. Han Wei, Investment Portfolio Manager at uSMART Securities, said that the market is expected that the Federal Reserve will likely reduce the next round of interest rate hikes to 25 basis points by the end of the month. Before the boots land, the STI is expected to continue to be stimulated by US stocks and test the upward level of 3400 points.

The local stock market had a total turnover of 975.22 million shares, with a total transaction value of 1.47 billion yuan. There were 265 stocks that rose and 143 stocks that fell.

As for the component stocks, 28 stocks rose, one fell, and one remained unchanged.

The stocks that saw the largest rise were Keppel DC REIT and Mapletree Logistics Trust. Keppel DC REIT rose by 3.63% and closed at 2 yuan, while Mapletree Logistics Trust rose by 3.05% and closed at 1.69 yuan.

The only stock that fell was Jardine C&C, which dropped 0.04% and closed at 28.95 yuan.

According to Han Wei, as the Hang Seng Index continues to rise, the component stocks generally lead the way, especially the banks and trusts which account for a large proportion.

As for individual stock news, Koh Brothers Group's net profit for the financial year ending December 2022 fell 13% YoY to 6.01 million yuan, with earnings per share down 13% to 1.46 cents. The company's revenue rose 39% YoY to 305.07 million yuan due to growth across all businesses. The group currently has a total order value of 684.6 million yuan. The board has recommended a year-end dividend of 0.2 cents per share.

Koh Brothers Eco Engineering's net profit for the financial year ending 2022 rose 7% YoY to 2.18 million yuan and earnings per share remained unchanged at 0.08 cents. The company's revenue rose 16% YoY to 209.37 million yuan due to growth in the engineering and construction sectors as well as the renewable energy sector. The board has recommended a year-end dividend of 2.5 cents per share.

ComfortDelgro announced after market close that it has invested 4 million euros (about 5.7 million yuan) in Shift4Good. It has become a strategic investor in Shift4Good, along with major companies such as the Renault Group. Shift4Good is a venture capital fund focused on sustainable development and invests in start-ups that can provide decarbonization solutions in the transportation industry in Europe and Southeast Asia.

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