Singapore stocks extended losses into Thursday (July 14) on yet another off-cycle monetary tightening move this year, with the city state having recorded slower-than-expected economic growth. The Straits Times Index (STI) tumbled 1.2 per cent or 38.06 points to 3,090.63 at the closing bell. Losers beat gainers 297 to 180 in the broader market, with 987.7 million securities worth S$935.4 million changing hands. In an unscheduled tightening move, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) upped its full-year inflation forecast for 2022, on the back of expectation that overall inflationary pressures “will remain elevated in the months ahead”. Regional indices delivered a mixed response to the grim US inflation report late Wednesday, in which consumer prices surged to a 40-year high of 9.1 per cent. The Shenzhen component index was up 0.75 per cent, the Jakarta Composite Index closed 0.72 per cent higher, while the Japan’s Nikkei index and Kuala Lumpur Composite Index each climbed 0.62 per cent.

Wall Street stocks finished mostly lower on Thursday following another troubling inflation report as disappointing banking earnings set a downcast tone about the second-quarter earnings season. For the second day in a row, US indices tumbled after data showed an acceleration in wholesale prices instead of the hoped-for moderation. But markets rallied somewhat from session lows as some investors grabbed a bargain-hunting opportunity. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5 per cent, or about 140 points, to finish at 30,630.17 after falling more than 600 points earlier in the day. The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.3 per cent to 3,790.38, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index edged up less than 0.1 per cent to 11,251.19. The Labor Department reported that US producer prices rose 1.1 per cent, topping expectations, on a 10 percent surge in energy prices, more than double the increase in May.