Broad-based selling drags STI below 3,300

THE Straits Times Index (STI) sank 26.55 points or 0.8 per cent to 3,297.84 in tepid trading on Monday in which an uninspiring 1.3 billion units worth S$1.02 billion was done. The selling within the index was fairly broad- based and included banks, Jardine stocks and SingTel. Excluding warrants, the advance-decline score for the entire market was 135 to 273.

The weakness here came despite a positive session for Hong Kong, and was most probably in response to Europe opening in the red, which suggested to observers that Wall Street's Monday trading could be weak.

There was renewed pressure on the offshore oil sector after signs of stability emerged on Friday. Keppel Corp finished S$0.07 down at S$8.20 with 7.9 million shares traded, Sembcorp Marine slipped S$0.05 to S$2.91 with 2.2 million done, while Ezra and Ezion closed sharply lower.