SINGAPORE shares closed 3.26 per cent lower on Tuesday with concerns over a global economic recession and its impact on the domestic economy triggering sell-offs, dealers said.

The blue chip Straits Times Index fell 57.12 points to 1,692.55. Volume totalled 1.00 billion shares worth 862.68 million Singapore dollars.

Declining stocks outnumbered risers 330 to 119, with 876 unchanged.

Singapore's small and open economy, which relies heavily on international trade, is likely to be hit hard by the escalating global economic slump.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Sunday that the city-state, which is already in recession, could experience negative growth next year, after officials sharply downgraded their projection for 2008 expansion to 3.0 per cent.

He urged Singaporeans to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best.

'It looks as if the latest rebound was just another technical bounce that couldn't be sustained. I think the volatility is going to continue', Dow Jones Newswires quoted a trader with a foreign brokerage as saying.

Property stocks were hammered due to slowing demand, with CapitaLand falling 10 cents to 2.59 dollars, Keppel Land down 10 cents to $1.57 and City Developments tumbling 50 cents to $5.75.

Among the banks, DBS dropped 20 cents to $9.90, United Overseas Bank gave up 20 cents to $11.96 and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp lost two cents to $4.79.

Most blue chip stocks were also down. Singapore Airlines tumbled 28 cents to $11.00, Singapore Telecom declined 12 cents to $2.38, oil rig-maker Keppel Corp dipped 22 cents to $4.40 and shipping firm Neptune Orient Lines ended six cents lower at $1.03. -- AFP