SINGAPORE – There was not much to go on for investors on Dec 7 but the modest losses on Wall Street overnight were enough of a hint for local traders to send the market dipping into negative territory.
The Straits Times Index (STI) slipped 0.4 per cent or 12.98 points to end at 3,074.26, wiping out the gains on Nov 6.
Losers easily outpaced gainers 308 to 277, with 888 million shares worth $1 billion changing hands.
Jardine Matheson declined heavily, falling 1.2 per cent to close the day at US$40.20.
DBS Bank also fell, continuing its streak of losses for the week. South-east Asia’s largest bank was down nearly 1 per cent to $31.18 at the closing bell.
The other lenders also fell: OCBC Bank dipped 0.8 per cent to $12.51, while UOB slipped 0.4 per cent to $27.19.
The most active counters included shipbuilder Seatrium, Manulife US Real Estate Investment Trust and Genting Singapore.
Seatrium fell 1 per cent to 10.1 cents on trade of 141.2 million shares, while Manulife finished 11.1 per cent off at 6.4 cents with 57.5 million shares done.
Genting Singapore bucked the trend, rising 3.2 per cent to 95.5 cents with 54.8 million shares changing hands.
The Hong Kong market continued its losing streak, falling 0.7 per cent.
Mr Kelvin Wong, Asia-Pacific senior market analyst at Oanda, noted that the persistent weakness seen in the China and Hong Kong stock markets has been primarily driven by concerns over rising debt risks in major developers.
Most other key regional markets also finished in negative territory after those falls on Wall Street that were largely sparked by yields on Treasury bonds falling to levels last seen in August.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 1.8 per cent, the ASX 200 in Australia dipped 0.07 per cent but still held on to most of Nov 6’s stellar gains, Bursa Malaysia fell 0.2 per cent and the Kospi in Seoul slipped 0.1 per cent. THE BUSINESS TIMES
