One-third of Singapore index stocks touch 52-week lows as STI sinks below 3,000 level

OCTOBER just got rockier for stock watchers in Singapore, as the market plunged Thursday morning after a US equity rout overnight.

Eleven of the 30 blue-chips that make up the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) have fallen to 52-week lows, taking the STI down 1.08 per cent or 32.75 points to 2,999.33 before the lunch break on Thursday.

The index opened sharply down at 2,992.00, before clawing back some gains. The last time the STI breached the 3,000 level was in January 2017.

The STI stocks that touched 52-week lows were Keppel Corp, City Developments, Genting Singapore, Golden Agri-Resources, Hongkong Land, Jardine C&C, Jardine Matheson, Jardine Strategic, OCBC Bank, UOL and Venture Corp.

Jardine Matheson was the biggest loser in dollar value, sliding 1.79 per cent or US$1.04 to US$56.96. Jardine C&C fell 2.36 per cent to US$28.17. Jardine Strategic slipped 1.69 per cent to US$32.00.

Genting Singapore was the most actively traded counter, tumbling 3.30 per cent or three Singapore cents to S$0.88.

City Developments lost 1.24 per cent to S$8.00, tumbling at the open and then trading sideways. The bleeding was in tandem with the rest of the property sector.  

Venture Corp fell 1.94 per cent to S$15.710, leading a broad decline in the tech manufacturing sector. Venture touched an intra-day low of S$15.61 before bottom-fishers started testing the waters.

Stocks that managed to buck the trend to trade higher included Top Glove, Advanced Holdings, Wilmar, Ascendas India Trust and Best World. Top Glove rose 2.60 per cent to S$3.95 before the lunch break.

Thursday morning's heavy selling comes after the Dow and S&P 500 indices erased their 2018 gains overnight while the Nasdaq enter correction territory.