Regional equities mostly went south yesterday after US President Donald Trump signed the Hong Kong pro-democracy Bill - just a day after reassuring markets that Beijing and Washington were in the "final throes" of a mini trade deal.
"Although we knew this was coming, the market has reacted a bit negatively in a typically low liquidity period, which is likely getting exacerbated by the Thanksgiving holiday-thinned trading conditions," AxiTrader chief Asia market strategist Stephen Innes said.
The downbeat mood left the Straits Times Index (STI) off 14.92 points or 0.5 per cent at 3,200.61.
Elsewhere, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan fell, but Australia bucked the trend thanks to buoyant telcos.
Investors are wondering what China's next course of action in this long-drawn-out stand-off will be. With the Bill garnering bipartisan support, Mr Trump exercising a veto would be fruitless and highly likely to be overruled by the upper and lower chambers on Capitol Hill.
"I don't think he wants to inflame trade tensions... he sees this as a problem for China and Hong Kong, and maybe is reluctant to get involved," ING Asia-Pacific chief economist Robert Carnell wrote.
Trading volumes were 1.22 billion shares worth $811.82 million, with losers beating gainers 212 to 170.
Golden Agri-Resources was the STI's most active counter for a third successive session, dropping 4.6 per cent to 21 cents with 43.9 million shares traded.
Oil prices fell a second day after data showed US inventories increased against expectations and on trade worries. This impacted local energy firms like Rex International, which eased 3.2 per cent to 18.3 cents, and GSS Energy, down 3.4 per cent to 8.5 cents.
Companies with sizeable exposure to the offshore and marine sector also saw their share prices fall.
Rig builder Sembcorp Marine retreated 2.3 per cent to $1.26, while conglomerate Keppel Corp dipped 0.3 per cent to $6.74.
Among property plays, First Sponsor rose 3.1 per cent to $1.34, after selling an Amsterdam office building to its associate for €55.3 million (S$83.4 million).
There was a flurry of activity on Catalist-listed counter P5 Capital, which edged up 3.1 per cent to 3.3 cents on 127 million shares traded, the most on the bourse.
The high volumes were due to married deals amounting to 50.8 million shares sold at 6.3 cents, a 96 per cent premium over Wednesday's closing price.
