Banks, Jardine, ComfortDG push STI down
United Engineers contributes S$370 million to turnover, about 28 per cent of the whole market's business
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AFTER having risen 27 points on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Straits Times Index (STI) on Thursday plunged 25.4 points to 3,419.17, dragged lower by selling of ComfortDelGro, Jardine stocks and the three banks. The broad market followed with 152 rises versus 301 falls, excluding warrants.
Turnover improved from Wednesday's weak S$974 million to just over one billion units worth S$1.3 billion. Trading in six counters - the three banks, Singtel and ComfortDelGro - and surprise entrant into the top volume list United Engineers contributed a total of S$370 million to turnover - about 28 per cent of the whole market's business.
The most popular explanation for the weakness was the age-old "buy in anticipation, sell on news" maxim as applied to the stocks that contributed the most to the STI's rise and fall over the past few days - ComfortDelGro, for example, had been rising over the past few weeks ahead of its results on Wednesday, but on Thursday collapsed by S$0.16 or about 5 per cent to S$2.98 on volume of 13.5 million.
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