STI down 0.8% amid sea of red in Asia

HOPES that last Friday's US stock rebound would provide a fresh start to the trading week were dashed in the Asia session on Monday. Singapore was not spared. This came as investors were still gloomy after warnings from finance chiefs at the annual IMF meeting held over the weekend.

Monday's stock movements tracked a broad-based sell-off in global equities last week, egged on by fears of higher US interest rates, lingering worries over the US-China trade war, and attacks by President Donald Trump on the Federal Reserve. "We can't say the shock is over," Rakuten Securities' chief strategist, Masayuki Kubota told AFP.

Amid a region-wide slide, the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) shed 23.2 points or 0.8 per cent to finish at 3,045.97 on Monday. Losers beat gainers 262 to 143, after about 1.67 billion shares worth S$1 billion changed hands.