Market observes its own cooling-off day

THE Singapore stock market had its very own cooling-off day on Thursday alongside the rest of the nation, staging no rally and quietening down in terms of volume.

Though some market watchers had held out hope for a potential pre-election pick-up in local shares, that did not come to pass as the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) reversed course after a two-day recovery to slide 1.4 per cent or 40.15 points to 2,888.03 on Thursday. It is down 14 per cent year-to-date.

The broad market lost ground, with losers outnumbering gainers 303 to 129. Trading volume also dropped - about 914 million shares worth S$759 million changed hands.