Singapore shares retreated on Tuesday morning, with the benchmark index falling 27 points, or 0.5%, to 5,594 as investors locked in profits after the gauge touched a record high in the previous session. The market also took its cue from weaker US stock futures, reflecting a broader global selloff in technology shares.
Sentiment was further pressured by caution ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s upcoming monetary policy decision, as well as key data releases due this week, including US Q2 GDP and China’s PMI readings. Domestic data from Monday also weighed on the outlook: Singapore’s manufacturing output in June rose at its slowest pace in four months, while the Monetary Authority of Singapore moved to tighten policy again.
Sector-wise, health technology, non-energy minerals, communication services, and financials were the main drags on the index. Among the notable decliners were United Overseas Bank (-1.5%), Venture Corp. (-1.4%), DBS Group Holdings (-1.1%), Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (-1.0%), and Hongkong Land Holdings (-1.0%).
