ENCOURAGING US retail sales data may have eased worries on Wall Street after recent US yield curve inversions but sentiment in the local market remained risk-off on global recessionary concerns and stubborn trade disputes.
Even though non-oil domestic exports for July surprised on the upside, Jeffrey Halley, Oanda's Asia Pacific senior market analyst acknowleged the Singapore market as a noted underperformer on Friday,"suggesting that local markets are taking this morning’s positive data with a very large pinch of salt".
In Singapore shortly after the afternoon session commenced, volume clocked in at 752.53 million securities traded and a total turnover of S$527.89 million. Both are on track to beat their respective seven-month daily averages. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, which slid 17.3 per cent on Thursday after a week-long trading halt, rebounded as investors turned to picking up the counter at prices close to a 2.5-year low. The counter is trading 6.5 Singapore cents or 7.6 per cent higher at 92.5 cents.Financials continued their downtrend. DBS Group Holdings dropped S$0.10 or 0.4 per cent to S$24.60; OCBC Bank fell S$0.10 or 0.9 per cent to S$10.60, while United Overseas Bank was trading at S$24.97, down S$0.18 or 0.7 per cent.