Brent's slump cuts short STI's brief ascent

WATER slides easily off a duck's back. Crude oil, though, tends to stick to its feathers and leaves it unable to float, much less fly. Along rather the same lines, yet another slump in Brent prices clipped the wings of the local market on Wednesday, cruelly cutting short an ultimately brief ascent.

Singapore stocks ended 1.95 per cent lower on Wednesday with the Straits Times Index (STI) losing 52.11 points to 2,619.96.

That was its sharpest single-day fall since Jan 20. Coming after two consecutive days of advances, the drop took the index back down to near where it was the previous Wednesday and dampens hopes that the STI might be able to make its way back above the 2,700-point mark.