Singapore shares close lower on continued bank weakness

WEAKNESS in the three banks following fresh concerns over their oil and gas (O&G) sector exposure was the main factor behind the 15.98-point loss the Straits Times Index suffered on Wednesday at 3,278.95. It did, however, manage to rebound almost 20 points off its intraday low of 3,259.

A fair bit of this recovery was from OCBC, which sank to S$11 before closing with only a S$0.02 loss at S$11.19 on volume of 5.2 million. Losses in the three banks cut 12 off the STI, with Jardine stocks also featuring prominently.

The market's turnover amounted to 1.74 billion units worth S$1.2 billion, of which S$246 million or 21 per cent came from trading of the banks. The advance-decline score excluding warrants was 168 to 262.