SINGAPORE shares closed 1.27 per cent lower on Wednesday, extending their falls with sentiment still guarded, dealers said.
The blue-chip Straits Times Index closed 22.95 points lower at 1,784.01, finishing below the 1,800 level for the first time in two weeks. Volume reached 1.13 billion shares worth 960.85 million Singapore dollars.
Declining shares outnumbered rising stocks 250 to 177, with 886 unchanged.
'The market seems to have priced in quite a bit of weak earnings numbers and job layoffs in Singapore. There is latent potential for buying,' a technical analyst with a local brokerage told Dow Jones Newswires.
Banking stocks tumbled, with DBS falling 36 cents to 10.66, United Overseas Bank declining 32 cents to 12.70 and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp off 10 cents to 4.92.
Property developers continued to decline. CapitaLand eased 24 cents to 2.76, Keppel Land lost 10 cents to 1.93 and City Developments dipped four cents to 6.21.
Index heavyweight Singapore Telecommunications rose three cents to 2.38 after reporting that net profit fell 12.1 per cent to 868 million Singapore dollars for the second quarter to September.
Despite the decline, net profit beat a Dow Jones Newswires poll of analysts who predicted an average of 859.8 million dollars for the quarter.
Among other blue chips, Singapore Airlines climbed 12 cents to 11.42 and Singapore Press Holdings was up eight cents to 3.46. Oil rig-maker Keppel Corp fell 10 cents to 4.88. -- AFP
