Singapore stocks: STI resumes Thursday afternoon down 0.2% on day

SINGAPORE stocks resumed trading on Thursday afternoon in negative territory, tracking slight losses in other Asian markets.

On the Singapore bourse, the Straits Times Index was down 0.2 per cent or 6.57 points on the day to 3,202.97 as at 1.01pm.

Decliners outnumbered advancers 186 to 151, after about 608.2 million securities worth S$351.0 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Addvalue Technologies slipped 3.1 per cent, or 0.1 Singapore cent to 3.1 cents, with 50.1 million shares traded, while Interra Resource gained 5 per cent, or 0.4 Singapore cent to 8.4 cents, with 33.8 million shares traded.

Banking stocks were mixed - DBS rose 0.4 per cent, or nine Singapore cents to S$25.90, UOB lost 0.2 per cent, or five Singapore cents to S$26.53, and OCBC slipped 0.2 per cent, or two Singapore cents to S$10.94.

Other active securities included Singtel which dropped 1.5 per cent, or five Singapore cents to S$3.26 on an ex-dividend basis, and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding which held steady at S$1.09.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong edged up. The Hang Seng index rose 0.09 per cent, or 24.57 points, to 27,908.78. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index inched up 0.11 point to 3,017.15 and the Shenzhen Composite Index rose 0.60 point higher to 1,710.04.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index rose 4.5 points or 0.1 per cent to 6,855.9 by 0052 GMT. As for New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index added 0.8 per cent to 11,415.52 points, a record high.