Wall St's hesitant mood weighs on market

WALL Street's unsure Monday session and an afternoon slide in the Dow futures were the main reasons behind the Straits Times Index's 27.55- point drop to 3,218.8 on Tuesday, a fall that was initially cushioned by a rise in the Dow futures. However, at 5pm, the latter had surrendered a 30-point rise and was on the verge of sliding into the red.

Turnover was a relatively heavy 2.1 billion units worth S$1.2 billion and, excluding warrants, the whole market recorded 198 rises versus 223 falls.

In the food and beverage sector, Thai Beverage ended S$0.005 down at S$0.91 with about 10 million shares traded. Phillip Capital initiated coverage of Thai Beverage with an "accumulate" recommendation and a sum-of-the-parts target price of S$1.05.