Overnight gains on Wall Street boosted investors in Singapore and across the region, sending markets into positive territory yesterday.

The optimism here was rather mixed, but still managed to push the Straits Times Index (STI) up 0.1% or 1.98 points to 3,121.60, with the losers overtaking the winners by 245-228. on trades of 2.38 billion shares valued at $ 1.24 billion.

Yesterday’s slight rise could not prevent the index from ending the week down 22.56 points or 0.7% for the week amid weakness in local bank stocks.

Singapore Stock Exchange market strategist Geoff Howie noted that local banks – DBS, OCBC and UOB, which account for around 40% of STI – have fallen over the past seven sessions, with their shares falling by $ 1. 8% on average. Mr Howie said the rate revision and flattening of the yield curve in the United States following last week’s Federal Reserve meeting weighed on global banks, although other sectors have managed gains. This trend was also reflected throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

The trio managed to make gains yesterday: UOB rose 0.04%; DBS climbed 0.1 percent; and OCBC rose 0.4 percent.

Sembcorp Industries was the worst performer on the STI, falling 2.3% to $ 2.11.

Keppel Corp and Sembcorp Marine were among the most active, after announcing Thursday that they were exploring a possible merger of Sembcorp Marine and Keppel Offshore & Marine.

Keppel Corp rose 5.7% to $ 5.40 and topped the STI performance chart, while Sembmarine, which also offered a rights issue, saw its shares drop 27.2% to 13.9 cents on trades of nearly a billion.

Elsewhere in Asia, key indices in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Hong Kong ended higher, following overnight gains on Wall Street amid optimism over a bipartisan infrastructure deal in the USA.