STI slips 0.2% on double whammy of US tech sell-off, vaccine delays

THE Singapore bourse was on shaky ground with the key Straits Times Index trading underwater all day and paring some losses to finish 5.43 points or 0.22 per cent lower at 2,499.33 on Wednesday, following an extended tech sell-off in Wall Street overnight.

Providing a double whammy was news that vaccine frontrunner AstraZeneca plc has paused clinical trials after a participant became ill, dashing Covid-19 vaccine hopes that have been a big factor in the markets' recent rally.

Analysts reckon that US tech stocks are in the middle of a technical correction as fundamentally, there are no significant material changes that can be pinpointed for the rout. The big question mark, however, is to what extent other asset classes such as bonds, precious metals and currencies will be hurt by this correction.