Investors shed risk ahead of Dec 15

WITH doubts remaining over whether a "Phase One" trade agreement will be signed before further tariffs on Chinese imports kick in on Dec 15, some investors in Asia took their "bets" off the table during Tuesday's mixed session.

AxiTrader chief Asia market strategist Stephen Innes noted that "investors have been de-risking and are showing little appetite to add to new equity positions before Christmas".

Like in the previous session, Singapore's Straits Times Index (STI) spent most of Tuesday flat before heading decidedly lower in the last hour of trading to end at 3,162.89, a retreat of 16.93 points or 0.5 per cent.