Singapore shares down for third straight session; STI loses 0.29%

SINGAPORE shares retreated slightly on Thursday against a mixed showing by Wall Street.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) slipped 0.29 per cent or 9.36 points to 3,186.40.

Asian markets are very much in "watching from the side-lines mode" ahead of Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell's speech this evening, said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda.

"The refusal to get tugged along by the two-way noise on Wall Street this week is very much evident, reflecting perhaps lingering concerns about US bond yields as American data continues to surprise across the board to the upside," he added.

With the exception of Japan's Nikkei 225 which was down 0.07 per cent, Asia markets were mostly up. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index led gains in the region, jumping 1.16 per cent. Seoul's Kospi rose 0.19 per cent; the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index gained 0.11 per cent while the Jakarta Composite Index was up 0.58 per cent.

Across the Singapore market, advancers and decliners were even at 230 each, with 1.63 billion shares worth S$1.18 billion changing hands.

The best-performing counter on the STI was Venture Corporation, which edged up 1.1 per cent or S$0.23 to S$20.71. The Singapore Exchange (SGX) and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (CICT) were the only two other counters on the blue-chip index that ended the day in the black. SGX gained 0.7 per cent or S$0.07 to S$10.03; CICT was up 0.5 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.21.

At the bottom of the table were property developers UOL Group and City Developments. UOL dipped 1.5 per cent or S$0.12 to S$7.79 while City Developments ended 1.1 per cent or S$0.09 lower at S$8.15.

Singtel was the most heavily traded stock on the STI with over 30.8 million shares changing hands. Shares of Singtel were down 0.8 per cent or S$0.02 to S$2.44. It had on Thursday announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Singtel Group Treasury (SGT) had priced S$1 billion of subordinated perpetual securities on April 7.