Singapore shares fall 1.6% due to further Western sanctions on Russia

SINGAPORE stocks declined on Monday (Feb 28) as further Western sanctions were imposed on Russia following its attack on Ukraine. The benchmark Straits Times Index ended down 1.6 per cent or 52.23 points at 3,242.24. Across the broader market, decliners outnumbered advancers 277 to 224 after 1.72 billion shares worth S$3.01 billion changed hands.

IG market strategist Yeap Jun Rong said that renewed risk-off sentiment could have been spurred by tougher sanctions imposed by the West on Russia. This includes the exclusion of Russia's financial institutions from the SWIFT network, which would block Russia's central bank from using its international reserves to blunt the impact of sanctions.

"For now, the exclusion of Russia's banks from the SWIFT system is carefully limited to selected banks so as to not impact Russia's supply of oil and gas to Europe, but the uncertainty will be whether Russia will restrict these exports as a retaliatory move." he said.