China, HK rebound fails to stem STI fall

A REBOUND in China and Hong Kong failed to stem the fall in Singapore as the Straits Times Index (STI) on Thursday fell 17.59 points to 3,267.40. Volume, which spiked up to S$1.6 billion during Wednesday's 56-point rout, settled down to a more familiar - and weak - level at about 1.3 billion units worth S$1.2 billion. Of this, S$764 million, or 64 per cent, was generated by trading in the 30 STI components.

Over in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index ended a volatile session about 3.7 per cent higher whilst in China, the Shanghai Composite managed a 5.8 per cent rise.

Possibly a factor weighing on sentiment in Singapore was an overnight plunge on Wall Street where worries about a crashing China stock market on Wednesday outweighed any positive impact from the minutes of the Federal Reserve's June meeting which showed that members wanted more evidence of an economic recovery before raising rates.