Slide in S'pore stocks expected to continue

[SINGAPORE] Baring Asset Management Co and Bank Julius Baer & Co expect a deepening slump in Singapore stocks, the worst performers this year among South-east Asian markets.

The benchmark Straits Times Index dropped 4.9 per cent from Dec 31 through last week, trailing gauges of Thai, Indonesian, Malaysian and Philippine equities by at least 1.8 percentage points. Stocks sank as data showed home purchases tumbled last year to a four-year low and retail sales dropped, while manufacturing growth weakened in China, Singapore's biggest export market.

"The Singapore sell-off is due in large part to the sputtering domestic economy," said David Ross, Maryland, Washington-based managing director of Chevy Chase Trust Co, which oversees about US$15 billion. "The weakening consumer economy portends weakness in the property seg…