SINGAPORE stocks resumed trading on Thursday afternoon in negative territory, with the Straits Times Index down 0.44 per cent or 14.15 points to 3,168.99, on the day as at 1.02pm.

Decliners outnumbered advancers 234 to 107, after about 611.6 million securities worth S$515.6 million exchanged hands. Following the midday break, the benchmark index had 21 out of 30 constituents trading in the red.

Among the most heavily traded stocks by volume, YZJ Shipbuilding fell 1.4 per cent, or two Singapore cents to S$1.39, with 17.1 million shares traded; while Thomson Medical slipped 4.8 per cent, or 0.3 Singapore cent to 5.9 cents, with 14.9 million shares traded.

Other active stocks included Sembcorp Marine which lost 2 per cent, or three Singapore cents to S$1.47, and City Developments which fell 1.2 per cent, or 10 cents to S$8.32.

Tech stocks also took a beating by the afternoon trade - AEM Holdings tumbled 3.2 per cent, or three Singapore cents to S$0.90, Venture Corp lost 2.5 per cent, or S$0.38 to S$15.05, and Hi-P was down 1.6 per cent, or two cents to S$1.20.

Elsewhere in the region, Asian stocks retreated on Thursday, as escalating US-Sino tensions gave investors little reason for cheer.

Japan's Topix fell 0.4 per cent as at 1.30pm in Tokyo, Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged down 1.3 per cent, and Shanghai's Composite Index dipped 0.8 per cent.