Singapore shares dragged by Singtel, Seatrium declines; STI down 1.1%

SINGAPORE – Local shares took yet another hit on July 31 after investors bailed out of index heavyweights Singtel and Seatrium.

The sell-off sent the Straits Times Index (STI) down 1.1 per cent or 45.64 points to 4,173.77 – its fifth straight day of decline.

In the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 388 to 204 on bumper trade of 1.6 billion securities worth $1.9 billion.

Seatrium was the STI’s biggest decliner, slumping 5.4 per cent to $2.27 with 42 million shares done.

Investors ignored the offshore and marine specialist’s strong first-half results posted earlier in the day, as sentiment remained dented by news that it

would pay more than $240 million

to Brazilian and Singapore authorities to settle corruption offences.

Singtel was another notable decliner, dropping 3 per cent to $3.88 after trading in the stock went ex-dividend.

Keppel was among the blue-chip gainers, rising 3.5 per cent to $8.47 after the asset manager posted a 24.2 per cent increase in net profit to $377.7 million for the first half ended June 30.

The banks closed lower. DBS shed 0.7 per cent to $47.91, OCBC fell 1 per cent to $16.87 and UOB was off 0.9 per cent at $36.19.

Most regional markets were down, mirroring the lacklustre session on Wall Street overnight on talk that interest rate levels are staying put for a while.

The S&P 500 dipped 0.1 per cent and the Dow Industrials dropped 0.4 per cent while the Nasdaq put on 0.1 per cent, but it is tipped to soar on sky-high earnings from Meta and Microsoft announced after markets closed.

Greater China equities led the regional declines, with the mainland’s blue-chip CSI 300 falling 1.8 per cent.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended 1.6 per cent lower, South Korea’s Kospi dipped 0.3 per cent and the ASX 200 in Australia slid 0.2 per cent.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 dodged the red ink, rising 1 per cent to snap a four-session losing streak.

THE BUSINESS TIMES