LOCAL equities ended Friday on a flat note amid a directionless trading session. Investor optimism also took a hit from the announcement of a 3.6 per cent year-on-year decline in Singapore' s retail sales for December 2020, as many industries remained affected by low visitor arrivals.

 

The benchmark Straits Times Index rose 0.05 per cent or 1.53 points to finish the week at 2,907.11. Across the broader market, advancers outnumbered decliners 244 to 204, after 1.77 billion securities worth S$1.15 billion changed hands.

 

Across the region, stock markets were mixed. The Nikkei and Hang Seng Index gained 1.5 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively, while the Kospi advanced 1.1 per cent. Meanwhile, the KLCI slipped 0.4 per cent and the Shenzhen Component Index fell 0.7 per cent.

 

Things were, however, more positive on Wall Street. The three indices finished Thursday in the black, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S& P 500 each gaining 1.1 per cent and the Nasdaq advancing 1.2 per cent.

 

Said Oanda' s senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley: " Asean markets are struggling to buy into the global recovery story with their less tech and manufacturing heavy indices, being heavily weighted to banks, property and commodities, which have been soft this week ex-energy."

 

On the local bourse, Haw Par Corporation was the biggest advancer. The counter closed at S$11.62 on Friday, up 1.9 per cent or S$0.22.

 

Other advancers for the day included Creative Technology which gained 5.2 per cent or S$0.13 to S$2.64, and Sarine Technologies which rose 16.4 per cent or S$0.09 to S$0.64.

 

On the other end of the spectrum, Jardine Matheson Holdings was the biggest loser, closing 1 per cent or US$0.60 lower at US$57.90.

 

Tech names were also on the list of decliners. Venture Corporation fell 1 per cent or S$0.21 to S$19.97 AEM lost 2.5 per cent or S$0.11 to S$4.29, and Micro-Mechanics shed 1.9 per cent or S$0.07 to S$3.58.

 

The trio of lenders ended the week in the black. DBS gained 0.2 per cent or S$0.04 to S$25.28 OCBC advanced 0.4 per cent or S$0.04 to S$10.30, while UOB rose 0.4 per cent or S$0.10 to S$23.54.

 

The Place Holdings was the most actively traded stock on Friday, with some 116.6 million shares changing hands over the course of the day. The counter closed at 14.5 Singapore cents, up 22.9 per cent or 2.7 cents.

 

Other heavily traded counters were MMP Resources, Oceanus and Jiutian Chemical.