Market Summary 

Local stocks continued their losing streak on Friday (Oct 14), even as most Asian markets rallied, following robust overnight gains on Wall Street. The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) fell for the seventh straight day, dipping 0.03 per cent or 0.84 points to 3,039.61, hitting a fresh 19-month low. For the week, the market barometer was down 3.4 per cent or 106.20 points. Economic data on Friday showed that Singapore’s economy beat expectations and grew 4.4 per cent year on year in the third quarter – higher than expectations for 3.5 per cent growth in a Bloomberg poll. Meanwhile, the Monetary Authority of Singapore also tightened monetary policy to fight inflation, but it was less aggressive than the “double-barrelled” move expected by some economists. While Singapore stocks opened stronger, the market turned negative at the close of trading, with real estate investment trusts (Reits) among the biggest losers. Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust and Mapletree Pan-Asia Commercial Trust were the top STI decliners, falling 5.1 per cent and 3 per cent respectively. Capitaland Ascendas Reit was the only STI Reit to end the day higher, climbing 0.4 per cent to S$2.61.

Wall Street stocks closed sharply lower on Friday (Oct 14) as investors worried about inflation and rising interest rates while the dollar rose against the yen and sterling after the British prime minister’s firing of her finance minister. Sterling fell sharply after Britain’s Liz Truss fired finance chief Kwasi Kwarteng and scrapped parts of their economic package, which had caused an uproar in financial markets. The dollar also kept rising against Japan’s beleaguered yen, hitting a fresh 32-year peak of 148.86. Oil settled sharply lower as recession concerns translated to worries about demand. In US Treasuries, benchmark 10-year yields gained some ground after data showed US retail sales were unexpectedly flat in September as high inflation crimped demand and investors continued to bet on aggressive Federal Reserve rate hikes. The US third quarter earnings season started on a positive note with shares of JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup rising after their reports. But as the session wore on, equity declines deepened with oil prices pushing energy stocks down sharply and consumer stocks falling sharply. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 403.89 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 29,634.83, the S&P 500 lost 86.84 points, or 2.4 per cent, to 3,583.07 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 327.76 points, or 3.1 per cent, to 10,321.39. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.6 per cent and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe shed 1.3 per cent.