STI falls ahead of expected Wall St weakness

WEDNESDAY'S fall in the Straits Times Index (STI) prompted speculation that Wall Street could end its Wednesday session sharply lower, which it did. So it was that Thursday's 20.26-point or 0.6 per cent slide to 3,395.27 in the STI led to speculation that the US market might again come under pressure during its own Thursday session ahead of a key payrolls report on Friday, though perhaps some weakness is to be expected given that the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 had risen to all-time highs earlier in the week, while the Nasdaq Composite crossed 5,000 for the first time in 15 years.

Turnover here on Thursday was 1.2 billion units worth S$934 million and excluding warrants, there were 167 rises versus 245 falls. The average value per unit traded was S$0.78 compared to S$0.71 on Wednesday and around S$1 last week. Of the day's top 20 actives, 15 were priced below S$0.50, with the top spot going to Advance SCT, which closed unchanged at S$0.001 on volume of 107.4 million.

Within the index, it was falls in Jardine Matheson, Singtel and Golden Agri-Resources which exerted the greatest drag. DBS Group was marginally firmer, offshore and marine counters were mixed and property stocks were weak.