Singapore shares started the week on a dour note, taking the lead from a sell-off on Wall Street last week.

The local benchmark Straits Times Index fell 26.02 points, or 0.78 per cent, to 3,318.40.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average last week suffered its biggest bruising since February, plummeting 317 points and erasing all the gains it had made so far this year.

In Singapore, the modd was muted, with 1.93 billion shares traded, worth $979.4 million.

Losers heavily outnumbered gainers 371 to 96, with 322 stocks remaining unchanged.

Charisma Energy was the top active, slipping half a cent to 4.4 cents.

The energy services firm has been in the spotlight since last week, when it said had signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to partner the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority to build and own a modular crude oil processing facility in Alaska.