STI down for 4th day but closes off low

THE Straits Times Index had a volatile session on Thursday when it first dropped 17 points to an intraday low of 2,791 before a late afternoon bout of short-covering helped it finish at 2,805.52, a net loss of only 3.83 points. It was the STI's fourth consecutive loss, during which it has fallen 68 points or 2.4 per cent.

The intraday rebound came when Europe opened marginally in the black, giving rise to hope that Western markets, which had been battered earlier in the week because of weak oil prices and US interest rate concerns, would enjoy a firm Thursday.

Turnover in the 30 STI components was a hefty S$902.3 million, about 73 per cent of the entire market's turnover of 1.1 billion units worth S$1.24 billion. Singtel was the most active index component - its S$0.02 rise to S$3.89 came on volume of 40 million and contributed S$154 million towards turnover.