STI weakens but action aplenty in pennies

AN 80-point jump in the Dow futures contract, a 0.6 per cent rise in Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index and a firm opening Europe-wide on Wednesday suggested that markets were positioning themselves for a dovish US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, but these developments failed to stir local blue chips into life - the Straits Times Index (STI) drifted within a narrow band before finishing a net 3.95 points weaker at 2,850.74.

Penny stock activity, however, was relatively strong, with total market turnover amounting to 1.52 billion units, the highest so far this week. The market's dollar value, however, was also the highest for the week at S$944 million, though it was below the longer-term average of S$1.1 billion. Excluding warrants there were 221 rises versus 150 falls.

Among the actives was AsiaMedic, which caught the eye with a S$0.025 or 36 per cent jump to S$0.091 on volume of 27.5 million, a move which also attracted the attention of the Singapore Exchange which despatched a morning query to the company.