THE Straits Times Index (STI) fell for the third consecutive day on Thursday (Aug 3), closing 0.6 per cent or 20.96 points lower at 3,304.06 points.

Across the wider Singapore market, gainers outnumbered losers 303 to 288, with 1.4 billion securities worth S$1.2 billion traded.

“Market sentiments continue to reel from the US credit rating downgrade by Fitch overnight, with overbought technical conditions and ‘extreme greed’ sentiments potentially exacerbating the profit-taking,” said IG market analyst Yeap Jun Rong.

The bearish sentiment comes after rating agency Fitch on Tuesday cut the US government’s credit rating from “AAA” to “AA+”.

Key Asian markets also finished lower. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index fell 1.7 per cent, while South Korea’s Kospi Composite Index, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped between 0.2 per cent and 0.5 per cent.

The worst performer on Singapore’s blue-chip index was Singapore Telecommunications : Z74 0% (Singtel), which lost 2 per cent or S$0.05 to close at S$2.41.

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Other top STI losers include CapitaLand Ascendas Reit : A17U 0%, Jardine Cycle & Carriage : C07 0%, and Jardine Matheson Holdings : J36 0%. The counters fell between 1.6 per cent and 1.8 per cent.

All three local lenders also finished in the red. DBS : D05 0% ended 0.2 per cent or S$0.08 lower at S$33.76, OCBC : O39 0% fell 1.1 per cent or S$0.15 to S$13.04, and UOB : U11 0% shed 0.3 per cent or S$0.10 to close at S$29.82.

The top gainer among the constituent stocks was Sembcorp Industries : U96 0%. The counter rose 1.3 per cent or S$0.07 to S$5.60.

Seatrium : S51 0%was the most heavily traded blue-chip counter. It closed 1.5 per cent or S$0.002 lower at S$0.134 after 274.6 million shares changed hands.