Singapore: Blue chips weaken, penny interest continues to dwindle

THE Straits Times Index (STI) fell 12.37 points to 3,496.24 on Wednesday, dragged lower by expectations of weakness ahead on Wall Street which came after European markets opened in the red and Hong Kong gave up most of its morning gains.

The penny segment in the meantime continued to exhibit signs of fatigue with prices mainly weakening in low volume. Business done amounted to 1.8 billion units worth S$1.2 billion for a unit average of S$0.67 and excluding warrants, the entire market's advance-decline score was 200/287.

Last week, the daily volume was around three billion units and the dollar value averaged S$1.5 billion.

Turnover in STI components was 232 million units worth S$140 million, which in dollar terms was only 11.7 per cent of the total volume. For most of last year, volume in STI stocks was around 50-60 per cent of daily dollar volume.

Retail brokers reported lessening interest among their clients, most probably because of the sudden loss of upward momentum, not just in the penny segment but also in Hong Kong and Wall Street.