Banks, Singtel drag STI down 40 pts to 2,900

HAVING gained 152 points in nine trading days leading up to Friday last week, the Straits Times Index fell for the second consecutive session when it dropped 40.15 points to 2,900.28 on Monday.

Low volume is often a problem in the local stock market and so it was the case again when a paltry 864 million units worth S$820 million were traded, down from Friday's S$1 billion.

Other than volatile oil prices - although oil actually rose on Monday - and a soft day for Hong Kong, China and the Dow futures, there was no other readily apparent reason for the selling here.