Local stocks end final trading session of the year largely flattish

$DBS Group Holdings (D05.SG)$ $OCBC Bank (O39.SG)$ $UOB Kay Hian (U10.SG)$ $UOB (U11.SG)$ $Korea Composite Index (.KOSPI.KR)$ $Nikkei/Yen Futures(DEC4) (NIYmain.US)$
After a tumultuous year, Singapore stocks finished the last trading day of 2022 largely unchanged, as traders chose to tread with caution.

$FTSE Singapore Straits Time Index (.STI.SG)$ inched up just about 0.1 per cent or 2.08 points to cap Friday (Dec 30) at 3,251.32. Liquidity was also thin on the local bourse. Daily turnover came in at about 711 million securities worth a total of just S$536.7 million, with advancers outnumbering decliners 281 to 206.

Elsewhere in Asia, $Hang Seng Index (800000.HK)$ rose 0.2 per cent, while the ASX 200 and the KLCI each gained 0.3 per cent. The Nikkei 225 closed largely unchanged.

Vishnu Varathan, Mizuho Bank’s head of economics and strategy for Asia, warned in a note against “premature and excessive optimism”. He cautioned that looming threats to capital markets still remain – particularly the Federal Reserve’s rate hike spree and mounting recessionary threats.

“All said, a recession may just be the price of taming the inflation spectre,” said Varathan, adding that other complications include the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and mounting US-China tensions.