STI slips ahead of US GDP data and on Wall St's overnight losses

SINGAPORE stocks edged down slightly on Friday, ahead of strong US data revealing that its economy grew 4.1 per cent in the second quarter.

The key Straits Times Index (STI) tracked overnight Wall Street losses to shed 3.62 points, or 0.1 per cent to 3,324.98, after touching an intraday low of 3,313.45 in the morning.

Nonetheless, the index is still up 0.8 per cent for the week, and well above the trough of 3,191.82 last seen on July 7, the day after the property cooling measures were announced.

Losers outnumbered gainers 198 to 173, after about 1.93 billion shares worth S$936.9 million changed hand…