Singapore shares close 0.4% down on Friday

SINGAPORE stocks finished 0.4 per cent lower on Friday, with the Straits Times Index falling 12.24 points to 3,213.48 on the last trading day in August.

Losers outnumbered gainers 221 to 192, or about eight down for every seven up, as some 2.35 billion shares worth S$1.44 billion in total changed hands.

The most actively traded counter was Golden Agri-Resources with 84.07 million shares traded, rising 3.64 per cent to 28.5 Singapore cents. Other actives included BlackGold Natural Resources with 74.51 million shares traded, up 45.46 per cent to 3.2 Singapore cents, and Nico Steel with 65.3 million shares traded, down 50 per cent to 0.1 Singapore cent.

Among active index stocks, DBS Group Holdings shed 1.27 per cent to S$24.95, while OCBC Bank dipped 1.05 per cent to S$11.30. UOB crept up 0.04 per cent to S$27.06.