STI drops 14 pts in quiet, cautious session

A THOROUGHLY bo-ring and featureless session yesterday saw the Straits Times Index drift in low volume to a 14.46-point loss at 3,165.25, a situation not helped by the closure of Hong Kong and China for the Chung Yeung festival.

The US government's inability to agree on a budget and the possibility that it might default on its debt payments if its borrowing ceiling isn't raised by Thursday were said to be the main factors behind the index's weakness, though it was likely that short-term players were reluctant to keep positions open over a public holiday and so opted to sell first.

Similarly, broad swathes of the penny segment came under pressure, partly because of the reason given above but also because of exchange-imposed curbs on three speculative counters last week that brought the three crashing down.