Singtel slide drags STI down

IT WAS a rough day for local equities, with the benchmark Straits Times Index ending lower for the third straight day. It declined by 2.12 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 3,414.82.

The index was weighed down by constituent stock Singtel, which shed S$0.11, or 2.93 per cent, to S$3.64 on a turnover of 30 million shares.

Monday was the telco's ex-dividend date; it will pay out 9.8 Singapore cents a share, inclusive of a special divdend, on Jan 10, 2018.

The bourse, on the whole, saw just over 1.52 billion shares, worth roughly S$1.03 billion, chan…