STI falls prey to renewed oil woes, Wall St volatility

RENEWED weakness in oil prices, large swings on Wall Street and the shock decision by the Swiss central bank to remove the cap on its currency versus the euro made for a soft week for the Straits Times Index (STI), the benchmark falling three of the five days and losing 38 points or 1.1 per cent in the process. All of this loss came on Friday when plunges in the banks sent the index down 38.16 points to 3,300.68.

If there is any consolation, it is that this time last year most of the market's activity was in penny stocks whereas this time most of the volume came from the larger caps. Daily turnover has averaged S$1 billion, thanks to elevated trading in index heavyweights like the banks, Keppel Corp and SingTel.

In Friday's session, the three banks were the worst hit within the STI, their combined losses cutting 13 points off the index. Thai Beverage's S$0.04 drop to S$0.69 cut a further 4.6 points off.