Markets highlights

1. Oil fell to US$50.85 a barrel, its lowest in six months, on concerns that the Chinese economy is slowing. Commodity-exporting countries such as Malaysia, Australia and Canada are seeing their currencies weaken, partly due to the China factor.

2. Greece's stock market plunged nearly 23 per cent at opening before recovering slightly after a five-week shutdown. Bank stocks were the hardest hit as the banks need to be recapitalised after the events of last month.

3. More property players head overseas as the local market languishes. Bonvests Holdings, which owns buildings such as Liat Towers here, has bought 4.5-star hotel Four Points by Sheraton Perth for A$91.5 million (S$91.8 million).

4. DBS Bank has hired seasoned banker Iain Taylor as chief operating officer of its global transaction services with effect from Sept 15. Mr Taylor, now at New Zealand's ASB Bank, will play a key role in executing the bank's growth plans.

5. The Singapore Exchange said that trading on its derivatives market was temporarily suspended at 7.56pm due to a technical fault. The SGX said it would provide further information as investigations continued.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 04, 2015, with the headline Markets highlights. Subscribe