Tougher to window-dress STI with Jardine departure

Singapore

WITH just about a week to go before the end of a dismal quarter, would- be window-dressers in the Singapore stock market may have been feeling nostalgic for some of their go-to counters on Monday as the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) traded without the two major Jardine group stocks for the first time in nearly two decades.

But market watchers say the departure of Jardine Matheson Holdings (JMH) and Jardine Strategic Holdings (JSH) from the STI basket was for the best, adding that other counters would now get more attention and the index's improved liquidity overall could encourage the development of more STI-based instruments.

The two Jardine stocks, together with commodities trader Olam International, were removed with effect from Monday morning from the STI - which ended the day a marginal 0.1 per …