Singapore shares fall despite Wall Street advance

LOCAL shares ended Wednesday in the red, having given up their gains from earlier on in the trading day, as investor optimism waned.

The benchmark Straits Times Index closed 0.8 per cent or 22.08 points lower at 2,869.55, with decliners outnumbering advancers 288 to 227, after 3.31 billion securities worth some S$2.41 billion changed hands.

This was despite an advance on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained 1.5 per cent, 1.6 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively.