Source：Zaobaosg

Reported by Xiang Xue

The latest non-agricultural employment data in the United States exceeded market expectations, causing investors to worry about the Federal Reserve's further interest rate hikes. Asian stocks fell on Monday (February 6th), with the Straits Times Index in Singapore slightly rising by 1.64 points, up 0.05%. The local banking sector in Singapore played a role, helping the index to be one of the few that was up.

Dr. Han Wei, Portfolio Manager at Hui Li Securities, said in an interview with Lianhe Zaobao: "The banking sector accounts for a large portion of the local stock market and benefits from interest rate policies. Although the unexpectedly strong non-agricultural employment report weighed on the overall US stock market, it was good news for bank stocks, which is why we saw the Straits Times Index stand out on Monday."

Out of three local banking stocks, two rose: DBS Group rose by 0.96%, closing at SGD 35.84, and United Overseas Bank rose by 0.60%, closing at SGD 30.34. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation remained unchanged at SGD 13.00.

Of the Straits Times Index component stocks, only six rose, with up to 20 falling and four unchanged.

The biggest losers were DFI Retail Group and Mapletree Logistics Trust, which fell by 1.82% and 1.71%, respectively, closing at SGD 3.24 and SGD 1.73.

Dr. Han Wei warned that although the Straits Times Index is performing relatively well compared to other markets, it will also suffer if the US stock market continues to decline.

On the other hand, Yili Securities Market Strategist, Mr. Huang Jiaren, pointed out that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will give a speech this Wednesday and may dampen market confidence in the end of rate hikes, as well as the escalating tensions between China and the US over the balloon incident. Thus, the stock market may be affected by external factors to some extent in the short term.

James Ooi believes that the current support point of the sea index is 3250 points and the resistance point is 3400 points.

In other stock markets in Asia Pacific, Tokyo rose by 0.67%; Hong Kong led the decline with a drop of 2.02%; Seoul and Taiwan fell by 1.7% and 1.34% respectively; Shenzhen evaporated by 1.18%; Shanghai fell by 0.76%; and Sydney fell slightly by 0.25%.

The local stock market had a total turnover of 1.25 billion shares, with a total trading volume of 990.61 million yuan. There were 248 rising stocks and 328 declining stocks.

In terms of individual stock news, Singtel, Gulf Energy Development Company, and AIS have started building a new data center in Bangkok, Thailand. The data center is planned to begin commercial operations in 2025 with a total capacity of 20 MW. Their joint venture company, GSA, will be responsible for the operation of the data center. Singtel's stock price closed at 2.55 yuan, up 0.39%.

CapitaLand India Trust announced after the close of the market that, due to an increase in rental rates and the contribution of newly acquired assets, trust in the second half of the 2022 fiscal year ended December of last year increased 9% to 3.91 cents per unit compared to the same period, and the full-year dividend per unit increased by 5% to 8.19 cents. The trust will pay a dividend on March 6th and the stock registration deadline is February 27th. The trust closed at 1.19 yuan, unchanged.

EuroSports Global, a luxury sports car distributor, announced that its subsidiary, Scorpio Electric, has established a wholly-owned subsidiary in Shenzhen, China on February 2, 2023 with a registered capital of $85,000 (approximately $112,600 in New Taiwan dollars).

The company's stock price closed at 0.22 yuan, unchanged.

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