Singapore Stocks-Flat at midday; S’pore-listed China firms outperform

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SINGAPORE, Dec 14 (Reuters) – Singapore shares were little changed midday Tuesday as investors stood on the sidelines to await more cues from abroad such as signs on how China will tackle rising inflation.

Smaller-cap companies, in particular Singapore-listed China shares, or S-chips, outperformed their larger peers.

At the lunch break, the Straits Times Index (STI) was down 2.01 points at 3,180.31. The total value of shares traded in the morning session was S$670 million, up from S$595.8 million on Monday.

‘The STI is relatively flat today as most of the news have been digested by investors,’ said Ng Kian Teck, an investment analyst at SIAS Research. He expects the STI to trade in a tight 3,166-3,190 range in the afternoon session.

Among blue-chip stocks, City Developments was one of the better performers, rising 1.25 percent to S$12.98. CapitaMalls Asia fell 2 percent to S$1.95.

S-chips outperformed the broader market, helped by strong China retail sales data and the government’s decision to keep interest rates steady, Ng said.

Sportswear retailer China Hongxing rose 6.5 percent to S$0.165 by the midday, while peer Eratat Lifestyle gained 7.1 percent to S$0.255.

Asset managers with operations in Singapore favour equities to bonds, with over 60 percent citing China as one of their top picks, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp said on Tuesday, citing a poll of 19 fund managers.

Shares of Singapore-listed water treatment firm Sinomem Technology rose as much as 6.3 percent to an eight-week high after it said it planned to list its subsidiary on the city-state’s second board, traders said.

By the lunch break, Sinomem shares traded up 5.2 percent at S$0.505 with more than 2.3 million shares changing hands versus a five-day average of 514,000 shares.

(Reporting by Charmian Kok; Editing by Kevin Lim) Keywords: SINGAPORE MARKET STOCKS/MIDDAY

(charmian.kok@thomsonreuters.com)(+65 6403 5666)(Reuters Messaging: charmian.kok.reuters.com@reuters.net)

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