Singapore stocks: STI resumes Monday afternoon at 3,358.75, down 0.57% on day

SINGAPORE stocks edged down as trading resumed on Monday afternoon, with the Straits Times Index slipping 0.57 per cent or 19.21 points to 3,358.75 as at 1.05pm, tracking declines in other Asia markets as hopes over a Fed rate cut ebbed away. 

On the Singapore bourse, losers outnumbered gainers 204 to 116, or about seven securities down for every four up, after 747.8 million securities worth S$332.9 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Libra Group rose 15.4 per cent or S$0.008 to S$0.06 with 30.7 million shares traded. China Star Food Group headed up 9.1 per cent or S$0.003 to S$0.036 with 28.6 million shares traded. KLW Holdings held firm to S$0.003 with 23.2 million shares traded.

Banking stocks declined when the market reopened, with DBS Group Holdings down 0.3 per cent or S$0.07 to S$26.55; United Overseas Bank down 1.1 per cent or S$0.30 to S$26.64; and OCBC Bank down 0.4 per cent or S$0.05 to S$11.59.

Other active index stocks included Keppel Corp, down 1.2 per cent or S$0.08 to S$6.49; Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust, down 0.3 per cent or S$0.01 to S$3.02. 

Elswhere in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 was down 0.4 per cent, while the Hang Seng index was down 0.7 per cent. Shanghai fell 0.7 per cent as investors in China rush towards the country's new startup Shanghai Stock Exchange's Sci-Tech Innovation Board - dubbed the Star Market - which saw the debut of 25 stocks. 

In Australia and New Zealand, the S&P/ASX 200 index inched up 0.1 per cent to 6,706.80 by 1.38am GMT, while New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index was up 0.2 per cent to 10,774.82.