STI falls 2% on Italy woes, trade tensions

JITTERS over Italy's political crisis and its impact on the overall direction of the eurozone plus renewed concerns over US-China trade tensions set the Singapore bourse on risk-off mode, with the benchmark slipping well below the 3,500 mark on Wednesday.

The key Straits Times Index tumbled 74.53 points or 2.12 per cent to finish at 3,443.95 with some 2.03 billion shares worth S$1.9 billion changing hands versus Monday's 1.29 billion shares worth S$885.4 million.

Other Asian markets were also awash in red. Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 1.5 per cent, South Korea's Kospi lost 2 per cent and China's Shanghai Composite tumbled 2.5 per cent while Hong K…