STI falls 0.4% as regional markets weaken

A RETURN of risk-off sentiments drove the Singapore bourse's key index to snap four straight days of gains on Wednesday on the back of sharp declines in Wall Street overnight as political tension heightened once again in the US after another high-profile exit.

The Straits Times Index (STI) slipped 14.32 points or 0.4 per cent to finish at 3,539.41. Its regional peers echoed the same mood with losses across the board in key indices in Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia and Malaysia.

"The highly watched US CPI certainly came in line with expectations, enabling the take-off of equity markets in the early hours . . . (but) US President Donald Trump's firing of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson short changed the bull run," said IG Markets' Jingyi Pan, referring to the overnight sell-off in Wall Street.