Singapore: STI suffers fourth consecutive loss

THE Straits Times Index (STI) on Thursday fell 27.01 points to 3,432.78, a fourth consecutive loss that took it below 3,450 for the first time since March 31. Since the start of the week, the index has lost 55 points or 1.6 per cent, dragged lower by a combination of factors, ranging from Greek default worries to a slowing China to US interest rate concerns.

Turnover, which spiked up to S$1.23 billion on Wednesday, slipped to 1.45 billion units worth S$1.1 billion. Excluding warrants, there were 111 rises versus 349 falls. Business done in the 30 STI components was S$174 million, 16 per cent of total dollar value.

Falls in the three banks provided the main drags on the index, the largest percentage loss being recorded by OCBC which dropped S$0.10 or 0.9 per cent to S$10.40 on volume of 5.3 million.

The STI was also weighed down by weakness in the Jardine stable. Only one STI component made it to the list of 20 most actively traded stocks - Noble Group, which dropped S$0.02 to S$0.84 on volume of 42.6 million.