Banks, Jardine slice almost 1% off STI

IT COULD be that yesterday's 29.7-point or 0.9 per cent loss for the Straits Times Index at 3,222.43 was in anticipation of a Monday slide on Wall Street. Or because the banks were among the prime movers, it could have been an unwinding of short-term positions which were taken to capitalise on better-than-expected bank earnings last week.

In any case, traders were at a loss to explain the selling which - if it is any consolation - came in low volume of 1.8 billion units worth $1.2 billion. Excluding warrants, there were 187 rises versus 243 falls.

Brokers were stumped as to why the STI was as weak as it was, particularly since Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index finished 1.8 per cent firmer after news there of a raft of capital market reforms.