A VOLATILE session on Tuesday ended with the Straits Times Index (STI) first sinking to an intraday low of 2,820, before recording a modest loss of 1.74 points at 2,834.23 at 5pm, most likely in anticipation of a Wall Street rebound on Tuesday. This was based largely on a firm opening for Europe in the late afternoon, even though the Dow futures at 5pm stood 35 points weaker.

Turnover here remained weak at 1.2 billion units worth S$895 million, of which S$621.5 million or 70 per cent was done in the 30 STI components. Excluding warrants, there were 216 rises versus 190 falls.

A new name entered the top-volume list, one which has not featured in recent weeks but which jumped to the top on Tuesday - Luzhou Bio-Chem. Its shares rose S$0.014 or 42.4 per cent to S$0.047 on volume of 111.6 million, drawing a morning query from the Singapore Exchange (SGX). The company replied in the afternoon that it did not know of reasons for the sudden activity in its shares.