Banks, Jardine stocks drag STI lower

WALL Street's new all-time high on Monday failed to lift sentiment here on Tuesday, with the Straits Times Index (STI) on Tuesday sliding to a 16.76 point loss at 3,230.42 on volume of 2.7 billion units worth S$1.07 billion, compared with S$765 million on Monday.

The STI's fall was in line with movements in the Dow futures, where the contract first rose 25 points but also drifted lower by 5 pm. Within the index, losses in Jardine Matheson, Hongkong Land and the three banks were the biggest drags. Excluding warrants, there were 215 rises versus 214 falls.

The average value per unit traded was S$0.39. Activity in the second line was focused mainly on low-priced issues, some purely for speculative purposes but others because of recent announcements.