Singapore: Stocks dragged down by Jardine and banks

PRESSURE on the Jardine stable and the three banks on Thursday meant the Straits Times Index ended the session with a 14.65-point loss at 3,426.18. Turnover at 1.1 billion units worth S$946.2 million was below the S$1.1 billion averages seen in the past few days. Excluding warrants, there were 188 rises versus 225 falls.

The weakness here was in contrast to Hong Kong where the Hang Seng Index traded in the black throughout the day before ending with a 0.5 per cent gain.

No reason could be found for the selling since Europe opened firm. The speculation was therefore that it was program selling ahead of anticipated softness on Wall Street on Thursday.

Among the stocks in focus was Noble Group which suspended trading of its shares to repel a fresh attack on its accounting policies by short-selling firm Iceberg Research.