Singapore shares shed 2% on yuan weakness, trade war escalation

It was a bad start to the nation's birthday week for the Singapore market, as the Chinese yuan fell and regional markets reacted to the US-China trade war escalation.

The Straits Times Index (STI) plunged 66.6 points, or 2.04 per cent, in Monday's trading to 3,194.51.

Turnover on the local bourse was 1.20 billion securities worth S$1.39 billion, which worked out to an average unit price of S$1.16. Losers outnumbered gainers 378 to 111, or seven securities down for every two up.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding led active counters with a volume of 54.1 million. It lost four Singapore cents or 2.82 per cent to S$1.38.

Other active counters included Genting Singapore, which ended down 1.5 Singapore cents or 1.67 per cent at S$0.885 with 52.3 million shares traded, and Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust, down 4.32 per cent or six Singapore cents to S$1.33 on a volume of 26.1 million units.