STI drops for third straight day

THE Straits Times Index (STI) on Wednesday tracked the futures contract on the Dow Jones Industrial Average closely throughout the day. A 50-point rise in the Dow futures in the morning helped the STI move into the black, but by 5pm when the former had dropped 20 points into the red, the STI also moved into the red.

A late bounce eventually helped trim the STI's loss from seven points just before 5pm to 0.52 at 2,790.54 after the post-closing adjustments. It was the index's third consecutive loss.

Volume, which on Tuesday had jumped to almost S$2 billion thanks to attempts at month-end window-dressing of key blue chips like the banks, dropped sharply to one billion units worth S$1 billion. Excluding warrants, there were 147 rises versus 243 falls.