Oil & gas stocks take a hammering

NOT surprisingly, offshore oil and gas stocks sustained a heavy beating on Monday in the wake of continued weakness in oil prices. Their collapse helped drag the Straits Times Index down 44.86 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 3,305.64. Also not surprising was that there was weakness in the bank sector since these have been the outperformers in recent weeks and were therefore vulnerable to spillover pressure from the oil and gas sell-off.

Adding to the weak sentiment was a 2.6 per cent plunge in Hong Kong, reportedly because of poor manufacturing data from China and worries over the ongoing social and political unrest.

"Hong Kong has given back everything it gained from the China rate cut and the launch of the Shanghai-Hong Kong connect,'' said a trader.