STI closes 7.46% lower with all 30 constituents in the red
Seatrium saw the biggest hit to its share price, plunging 14.43% to close at $1.66 on April 7.
The Straits Times Index (STI) closed 7.46% lower at 3,540.5 points on April 7, erasing three weeks' worth of gains.
All 30 constituents saw share price declines amid a global sell-off triggered by US President Donald Trump's tariffs, which have been levied on some 60 countries or trading blocs.
Seatrium saw the biggest hit to its share price, plunging 14.43% to close at $1.66 on April 7.
Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Keppel and Sembcorp Industries U96 also bore the brunt of aggressive selling, closing 11.52%, 11.15% and 9.67% lower respectively.
Shares in Yangzijiang Shipbuilding have been declining since February, when the US proposed steep fees on Chinese-built or Chinese-operated ships entering American ports. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding shares have fallen some 35% year to date.
DBS shares declined the most among the three banks, falling 9.28% to close at $39.28, sinking below the $40 mark for the first time since November 2024.
On the other end is CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust C38u, which closed 3.74% lower in the softest decline within the bellwether index.
The STI had reached an intra-day low of 3,494.39 points soon after opening at 3,600.89 points, down from 3,825.86 points at its April 4 close.
Chart: SGX
46% drop
DBS lowers STI year-end target to 3,855 points
Seatrium, YZJ Shipbuilding, Keppel, CLI lose more than a tenth of value as STI falls 8%
Read more stories about where the money flows, and analysis of the biggest market stories from Singapore and around the World
Get in-depth insights from our expert contributors, and dive into financial and economic trends
Follow the market issue situation with our daily updates
Or want more Lifestyle and Passion stories? Click here
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Shein's planned Hong Kong listing to benefit from wider capital pool, analysts say
By Scott Murdoch SYDNEY (Reuters) -Shein's planned listing in Hong Kong will help the online fast-fashion retailer avoid sharp investor scrutiny of its supply chains while tapping into capital from the mainland and emerging market investors, analysts said. The Singapore-headquartered company has turned its public market debut ambitions to Hong Kong after failing to win Chinese securities regulatory approval to proceed with a London initial public offering, Reuters reported last month, citing sources. While a listing, if successful, would be a big boost for Hong Kong, the move would cast a cloud over the company's efforts in recent years to gain legitimacy as a global, rather than a Chinese company. Shein, which sells products including $5 bike shorts and $18 sundresses, has faced political and environmental group pressure in the UK over its cotton sourcing and supply chain practices. It has also faced allegations that its clothes contain cotton from China's Xinjiang region, where the U.S. and NGOs have accused the Chinese government of human rights abuses and forced labour. Beijing denies any abuses. The company, which moved its headquarters from China to Singapore in 2022, has previously said it has a zero-tolerance policy for forced labour and requires its contract manufacturers to only source cotton from approved regions. "If it is the only option now open to them, the Hong Kong market does make sense as a place where you could list a global business with a mainland supply chain," said Eliot Fisk, a Hong Kong capital markets consultant and former JPMorgan banker. Shein did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. Before its attempt to list in London, Shein had pursued a listing in New York. The China-founded company had also faced regulatory hurdles and pushback from U.S. lawmakers in its attempt to list in the United States. "Listing in Hong Kong would also likely dodge the protests and political pushback it might face in the UK," said Craig Coben, former Bank of America co-head of capital markets in Hong Kong. While it is not known whether Shein plans to seek any waivers for a potential Hong Kong listing, several waivers, including disclosure-related waivers, can be sought by large IPO hopefuls in the Asian financial hub, according to capital market lawyers. A Hong Kong listing would also allow Shein to eventually be added to the city's Stock Connect scheme which gives easier access for mainland and Hong Kong-based investors to buy shares on each country's respective markets more easily. Shein would easily meet the market capitalisation and other criteria for inclusion in the connect scheme and for attracting mainland investment, said Hong Kong-based advisory firm Emmer Capital Partners CEO Manishi Raychaudhuri. There was a 255% year-on-year increase in average daily turnover in the first three months of the year in Southbound trading, mainland investors buying and selling Hong Kong stocks, the Hong Kong Exchange said in its first quarter results. "Hong Kong would have a dominant presence of Asia and emerging market-focused investors. London on the other hand, would have a significant presence of global and developed market investors," Raychaudhuri said. "The supply chain issues would have been a more important consideration for the latter set of investors." ($1 = 7.8488 Hong Kong dollars)
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
Bloomberg Daybreak Europe: Israel Strikes Iran's Nuclear Sites
Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes. On today's podcast: (1) Israel launched waves of airstrikes against Iran's nuclear program and ballistic-missile sites on Friday morning, a major escalation in the standoff between the two adversaries that risks sparking a wider war in the Middle East. (2) Explosions were heard across Tehran and in the city of Natanz, home to one of its nuclear sites, according to videos and local media. (3) US President Donald Trump says Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb, Fox News journalist Bret Baier reports, citing an interview with him after Israel launches strikes against Iran. The strikes came just hours after Trump had suggested to reporters the US still believed in the prospects for a diplomatic solution. (4) Oil surged as much as 13% after Israel carried out waves of military strikes against Iran, raising fears of a wider war in a region that accounts for a third of global crude production. (5) Stocks fell along with equity-index futures and investors rushed to the safety of haven assets after Israel attacked Iran's nuclear program sites in a major escalation of tensions in the Middle East. Crude oil jumped 9%, the biggest move in more than three years. (6) Investigators have started combing the wreckage of Air India flight AI171 as they seek to determine what caused the Boeing Co. Dreamliner to crash shortly after takeoff Thursday afternoon, killing all but one of the 242 people aboard in the deadliest aviation accident in more than a decade.
Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
"Sell America" is getting investors excited about Europe and Japan after years of slumber
This is the " Sell America" trade in one chart. President Donald Trump's policy moves are shaking up global markets and making US assets less appealing relative to their global peers. The stock market offers a clear example of this. While the US benchmark S&P 500 has shaken off tariff jitters and turned positive for 2025, it's still badly lagging its Asian and European counterparts. This marks an abrupt shift from the US dominance of previous years. "American equities look expensive relative to historic norms, almost any way you slice them, and some investors seem more wary of holding dollar-denominated assets during Trump's second term," Russ Mould, investment director at investment platform AJ Bell, told Business Insider. But "Sell America" extends beyond stocks. The US Dollar Index — weighted against a basket of global currencies — is sitting at a multi-year low. US government bonds show a similar trend, as investors lose confidence in them as the ultimate safe haven. Prices have fallen, pushing yields higher. As a result, investors chasing oversized returns in the US are no longer overlooking Europe and Japan. While Japan, the world's fourth-largest economy, has been witnessing a comeback in its stock markets since 2023, investors have also recently turned bullish on Europe, where governments have pledged to ramp up spending, particularly in defense. Investors see the growth expected from the fiscal expansion as early signs of a new dawn in the old continent. "There is a joke that Europe is a museum. That may have been the case in the past. But it is dramatically shifting from a staid and relatively dull investment landscape to one of the more compelling," Sam Rines, a macro strategist at asset manager WisdomTree, told Business Insider. The momentum has boosted stock indexes, with the STOXX Europe 600 and Germany's DAX indexes up 8% and 20% higher so far this year, respectively. The optimism is a stark contrast from the years following the global financial crisis, when several eurozone economies struggled with debt crises. Rines described the continent as being in the "early innings of a renaissance." "From bilateral trade breakthroughs to potential de-escalation in US-EU tariff battles, the policy pendulum is swinging from fragmentation toward cooperation," he said. These changes are shaping market risk, company cash flow, and investment strategies, he added. In particular, Germany, the world's third-largest economy, has announced spending plans on infrastructure and defense after years of conservative fiscal management. Emmanuel Cau, Barclays' head of European equity strategy, told BI that global investors are increasingly interested in putting money to work in the region. "Trump 2.0 and changing geopolitical dynamics has driven Europe to loosen their fiscal taps (largely Germany for now) and embrace a pro-growth policy path," he said by email. Earlier this week, Blackstone, the world's largest private equity company, said it plans to pump at least $500 billion into the continent over the next decade. European regulators "are looking at putting pressure on the European Union regarding deregulation. We think Europe has the prospect of doing better than they had in the past," Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone's CEO and cofounder, told The Financial Times. Japan awakened from deflationary slumber Over in the east, Japan's economy has been moribund for decades since the country's asset bubble burst in the 1990s, leading to what was called the " Lost Decades." During this time, Japan's economy has been in a deflationary spiral. Now, it's at a turning point, with headline inflation holding above the target 2% level since April 2022. In May, core inflation hit 3.6%, helping wage increases, which supported domestic spending. "A 'benign' wage-price spiral has liberated the country from its lost decades," economists at Global Lombard wrote in a Wednesday report. Rajiv Biswas, the CEO of research group Asia-Pacific Economics, said Japan's transition from deflationary pressures has helped corporate earnings, driving inflows into Japan's equity markets. According to government data, overseas investors bought 8.21 trillion yen worth of Japanese equities and bonds in April, marking the highest level of net inflows on record. Japan's outlook this year is still weighed by issues, including Trump's tariffs, a stronger yen, and an expected slowdown in the global economy. Japan's stock market has also come off turbocharged highs after the benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 30% in 2023 and another 20% in 2024. Investors are upbeat about the country's improvements, from the economy to corporate governance reforms. Japan has also been boosted by the Warren Buffett effect after Berkshire Hathaway invested in a cluster of trading houses. The structural reforms, alongside other factors like a weak yen, have helped drive a wave of corporate mergers and acquisitions in the last few years. Japan is expected to hold its upper house election in July, prompting some investor concerns about political stability should the ruling coalition lose seats. Reforms and stronger corporate governance are expected to continue, boosting investor confidence and foreign interest in Japan's stock markets, wrote strategists at Lombard Odier, a Swiss private bank, in a Wednesday report. With inflation stabilizing, Japan is also expected to stick to conservative spending policies aimed at reducing its massive public debt, a stance that could help limit market fallout from political uncertainty. "In our view, political instability may not disturb Japan's financial market as much as investors fear," wrote the Lombard Odier strategists.
