BENGALURU: Singapore stocks outperformed most emerging Asian equities on Thursday, snapping a five-session losing run after top lender DBS hit an all-time high on record quarterly profit, while most regional currencies surrendered earlier gains to tread lower.
The MSCI’s broader ASEAN index, dominated by the major banks in Singapore, advanced 0.6 percent to hit a five-month high. DBS Group, Southeast Asia’s largest bank by assets, surged 3.1 percent to a lifetime high after hiking its annual outlook and logging a record quarterly profit.
Smaller rivals Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp and United Overseas Bank followed suit, both gaining 2.2 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively. That lifted Singapore’s FTSE Straits Times index by 1.2 percent in its steepest single-day rise in a week. The benchmark is now around 70 points away from its record high of 5,713.19. In foreign exchange, the MSCI gauge of emerging currencies eased after rising as much as 0.2 percent to a record high.
The South Korean won weakened 0.3 percent after appreciating to its strongest since early October last year, at 1,414.5 per US dollar, while Taiwan’s dollar strengthened to a mid-July high of 32.23. The Thai baht and Indonesia’s rupiah gained earlier in the session but reversed course by Asia afternoon trade.
Elsewhere in emerging Asia, South Korea’s KOSPI closed down 4.6 percent, weighed by losses in chip majors Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, both shedding 6.3 percent and 10.4 percent at close, respectively.