STI declines after Friday's 2.6% jump

NOT surprisingly, Friday's window-dressing push ran out of puff on Monday, leaving the Straits Times Index (STI) nursing a 26.7 points or one per cent loss at 2,602.41.

Offshore and marine (O&M) stocks came under renewed pressure, as did the three banks and Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel). Volume fell from Friday's 1.4 billion units to one billion units worth S$1.07 billion and the advance-decline score excluding warrants was 183-203.

Over in North Asia, the Hang Seng Index dropped 0.45 per cent and the Shanghai Composite 1.8 per cent after release of weak China economic data. The Dow futures in the meantime traded about 50 points in the red.