Singapore stocks: STI resumes Wednesday afternoon at 3,138.41, down 0.7% on day

SINGAPORE shares resumed trading in negative territory on Wednesday, with the Straits Times Index losing 0.7 per cent, or 22.26 points to 3,138.41 as at 1pm.

Decliners outnumbered advancers 189 to 114, after about 480.6 million shares worth S$468.1 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Sembcorp Marine gained 3.7 per cent, or five Singapore cents to S$1.40, with 26.3 million shares traded, while watch-listed SunMoon Food was flat at 6.9 Singapore cents, with 18.2 million shares traded.

Financials also faltered by the afternoon trade. DBS slipped 0.4 per cent, or nine cents to S$24.82, OCBC Bank shed 0.6 per cent, or six cents to S$10.65, and United Overseas Bank dropped 0.5 per cent, or 14 cents to S$25.75.

Other active index stocks included Venture Corp which tumbled 1.8 per cent, or 27 Singapore cents to S$15.11, and CapitaLand Commercial Trust (CCT) which was down 1 per cent, or two cents to S$2.03.

CCT on Wednesday announced that its distribution per unit for the third-quarter ended Sept 30 remained unchanged at 2.2 Singapore cents from a year ago.

Meanwhile, Singtel dipped 0.9 per cent, or three cents to S$3.23. Earlier this week, Singtel and OCBC moved to link their digital wallet platforms, and BT reported that Singtel will need a digital bank licence to become a major e-payment player.

Elsewhere, most Asian equities fell as investors monitored geopolitical developments, while the pound extended its slide following the latest Brexit drama.

Japan's Topix index added 0.1 per cent, and South Korea's Kospi lost 0.5 per cent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.9 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.3 per cent, and Australian stocks dropped 0.2 per cent.

In a research note on Wednesday, IG market strategist Pan Jingyi said: "Alongside Brexit, the relatively mixed set of earnings out of the US overnight provides poor leads for Asia markets going into the midweek session."

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