STI arrests slide, breaks even for the day

SINGAPORE shares had to stage a late sprint on Wednesday just to get back to start after sliding for most of the day down a slope on Chinese economic data. The Straits Times Index (STI) finished the day up by a meagre 0.01 point, or less than one-thousandth of a per cent, for a close of 3,447.02.

A total of 1.2 billion shares changed hands, about 84 per cent of the year-to-date daily average volume. Those shares were worth S$954.5 million, or 80 per cent of the year-to-date daily average.

There were 15 losers for every 13 gainers, or 225 versus 195 i…