Singapore shares close weaker after Wall Street's Tuesday selloff

WALL Street's Tuesday blowout ensured a weak day for the local market on Wednesday with the Straits Times Index dropping 42.42 points or 1.5 per cent to 2,813.71 in relatively heavy volume of 2 billion units worth S$1.3 billion.

Earnings worries and interest rate concerns were reported to be the main factors behind the US market's selloff, with the release of the minutes of the September meeting of the US Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) this week expected to provide clues as to whether US rates are to be raised in December.

Here, pennies were again the main play as evidenced by the average value per unit traded of S$0.66 and the fact that 16 of the 20 most actively traded stocks cost less than S$0.20 each.