Markets grind higher despite volatility and risks

January puts the year on a good start, with February looking equally promising

- Ven Sreenivasan

There is an old saying in the market that as January goes, so does the rest of the year.

So far, January has turned out to be a rather good month for the markets, despite some scattered turbulence. Most markets have clambered their way to higher ground.

Wall Street, the home to the world’s most influential market, has shown remarkable resilience despite concerns over an economic slowdown, elevated inflation, high interest rates and geopolitical jitters.

Last Friday’s closing at 38,109.43 points for the Dow Jones Industrial Index marked a 0.65 per cent weekly gain and a rise of 1.11 per cent for the month of January to-date.

Despite sliding on Jan 26 amid concerns about Intel’s earnings, the S&P 500, seen as a more representative gauge of Wall Street stocks, rose 1.06 per cent last week to 4,890.97. This marked a solid 2.54 per cent gain for the month.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained another 0.94 per cent for the week to 15,455.36 points, adding up its monthly gain to an impressive 2.96 per cent.

In Singapore, the Straits Times Index ended at 3,159.53 on Jan 26, 7.24 points up from Jan 19’s close at 3,152.29 points as the month saw over $122 million of net institutional outflow. There has been some noticeable weakness by the ST Index’s component stocks like DBS, OCBC and UOB.

Interestingly enough, activity on the Singapore bourse appears to be turning to selected second-liners, many of which are seen as trading at attractive price-earnings multiples. Notable names included Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Sats, ST Engineering and ComfortDelGro.

So what is next?

As this column suggested at the start of 2024, the outlook for the market for the year appears benign. Much of the risks from the previous year which also flowed into 2024 – inflation, interest rates, supply chain issues – have already been priced in.