Singapore shares close 0.3% lower

THE Singapore bourse continued its downward trajectory on Thursday, with the key Straits Times Index closing 7.24 points or 0.29 per cent lower at 2,492.09, uninspired by Wall Street's overnight bounce as tech's three-day rout in the US paused.

Other key Asian equity gauges ended mixed. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia posted gains, while China, Hong Kong and Malaysia closed in the red.

The gains in US indices aside, it is anybody's guess how long the buying in the beaten-down tech sector will last; it is an uncertainty that may be weighing on traders' minds.

Jingyi Pan, IG Singapore's market strategist, said: "No doubt, it remains early stages to establish a floor for the decline, with momentum still pointing south. A further dip (below the 50-day moving average) ... could induce fresh concerns, but for the time being, prices may loiter in no man's land."

The local bourse's third straight day of decline comes ahead of US weekly jobless claims data, followed by Friday's CPI figures and the policy meeting by the European Central Bank.

Bank Negara Malaysia kept its historically low rates unchanged, as largely expected on Thursday, but vowed to utilise its policy levers to cushion more pandemic pain if necessary.

The US Federal Reserve's two-day meeting is set to follow next week.

Eyes are also on Brexit, following news that the European Union is considering legal action against UK over plans to breach the Brexit agreement, which left the pound headed for its longest losing streak since March.

In the year to date, the STI has lost 23 per cent. The gains in the three banking stocks UOB, DBS and OCBC on Thursday were unable to keep the market's barometer away from the negative territory.

Leading the losses were Wilmar International, Jardine Matheson, Ascendas Reit and the Singapore Exchange.

Trading volume on the Singapore market totalled 1.58 billion shares worth S$1.16 billion. Among the STI stocks, 11 counters rose, and 16 fell.

Once again, Sembcorp Marine (SembMarine) and Sembcorp Industries (SCI) drew active trading and continued their pattern from Wednesday. SembMarine's stock fell 0.8 Singapore cent or 4.2 per cent to 18.2 Singapore cents; SCI, "free of the marine drag" post-demerger, gained 2 Singapore cents or 1.7 per cent to S$1.19. SembMarine was the day's second most active counter, with 91 million shares worth S$17 million done; SCI saw 31 million shares worth S$37 million change hands.

The day's biggest winner was Sunningdale Tech, which climbed 18 Singapore cents or 14.4 per cent to S$1.43. The mainboard-listed precision manufacturer said on Wednesday that it was approached in relation to a possible transaction involving its shares.

AGV Group fell 0.1 Singapore cent or 4 per cent to 2.4 Singapore cents. On Thursday morning, the Catalist-listed firm, which provides hot-dip galvanising services to the steel-and-iron sector, said that its executive director Albert Ang was resisting a call from the nominating committee to step down amid a probe by the Commercial Affairs Department. He has been on leave of absence since Aug 7.