HK slide, soft Europe opening hit STI

After the volatility of last week, the Straits Times Index kicked off this week with a quiet session on Monday, drifting within a narrow band before a slide in Hong Kong and a soft opening for Europe in the late afternoon took it to a nett loss of 13.34 at 3,418.02.

Volume also dropped off from last week's average of about S$1.2 billion. On Monday, 1.08 billion units worth S$1.04 were traded; excluding warrants, there were 157 rises versus 268 falls.

Possibly affecting sentiment was an uncertain session in Hong Kong, where the Hang Seng Index opened with a triple-digit point loss, and then regained all of this before once again weakening to end a nett 0.64 per cent lower for the day.