ST Index muddles through uninspiring day

THERE has to be a fair amount of envy among investors in the local market when comparing the performance of the Singapore market with that of Hong Kong.

Here, the Straits Times Index muddled through an uninspiring day, one of the main features being a declaration by short-seller Muddy Waters that it is now targeting Noble Group. Other than a S$0.05, or 5.5 per cent, plunge in Noble's shares to S$0.86 on volume of 132.6 million shares, the only other observation possible was that the bulk of volume done was in "micro-chips" or stocks that hover at the cheapest absolute prices possible.

In contrast with the STI, which recorded a 0.38 point slip to 3,460.3, the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong - which shot up 4 per cent on Wednesday - on Thursday rocketed up by almost 7 per cent before finishing a net 2.7 per cent higher.