STI ends the first week on sombre note

THE key Straits Times Index lost its grip on the upward click it had begun the day with and led a steady descent from the second half of the trading session, ending Friday marginally lower by 0.2 per cent.

STI's loss of some 6.7 points to cap the day at 3,338.4 bucked the gains among its regional peers ahead of the release of US non-farm payrolls data for December.

The jerky showing of the Singapore market barometer during the year's first full trading week - the index fell on Monday and Tuesday, gained ground in the following two days and buckled on Friday - left the STI on negative territory for the year by 27 points or 0.8 per cent.