STI ends flat on weak Europe opening

WALL Street's Tuesday rise helped calm some nerves and prompted a bout of short-covering that pushed the Straits Times Index higher for most of Wednesday. A weak opening for Europe, however, cut the index's gain to just 0.57 of a point at 2,546.18. Intraday peak was 2,584.

Turnover was by recent standards mediocre at 809.8 million units worth S$982 million and the broad market excluding warrants recorded 224 rises versus 166 falls.

Helping cap the index's rise was weakness in the Shanghai Composite and the …