Market ends flat after rebound bid

SINGAPORE share tried to stage a rebound on Tuesday only to fall flat at the finish line, tripped up by concerns about a Zika infection outbreak and the oil and gas sector.

The Straits Times Index (STI) opened in positive territory on Tuesday after hawkish comments by US Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen sparked a knee-jerk sell-off on Monday. The blue-chip benchmark hit a high of 2,846.38 shortly after the opening, but gradually fell back for the rest of the day. When the closing bell rang, the STI was back in the red, albeit only marginally, down 0.04 per cent or 1.04 points to close almost flat at 2,828.39.

Trading volumes picked up, with a total of one billion shares changing hands, representing about 65 per cent of the January-to-July daily average. In terms of turnover value, the S$678.1 million worth of shares traded on Tuesday was 61 per cent of the daily average in the first seven months of the year.