Singtel, HK Land drag STI lower

THE Straits Times Index (STI), which last Wednesday had been pushed up 20 points, on Monday fell back by 14.36 points or 0.4 per cent to 3,421.30, dragged lower mainly by selling of Singtel and Hongkong Land (HKL).

The session was otherwise relatively tame and unremarkable - turnover of 1.06 billion units worth S$1.3 billion was in line with recent daily totals and the advance-decline score excluding warrants was 224 to 214.

Within the STI, Singtel's S$0.12 or 2.8 per cent drop to S$4.16 on volume of 29.1 million cut 10.3 points off the index, while HKL's US$0.18 drop to US$7.63 sliced off another 3.4 points. These falls outweighed gains in other blue chips such as DBS, which rose S$0.20 to S$19.65.