Singapore shares hit one-week low as Ukraine situation escalates

Singapore stocks ended the day lower yesterday, amid escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) was a sea of red as all 30 of its constituents either fell or ended flat, closing 1 per cent or 35.78 points lower to hit a one-week low of 3,400.58.

Elsewhere, major indexes in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea closed with deeper losses of between 1.4 per cent and 2.7 per cent.

Oanda senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley said that by ordering Russian forces to "perform peacekeeping functions" in eastern Ukraine's breakaway regions, Russian President Vladimir Putin quashed any certainty over a US summit regarding Ukraine.

With that, "the clutching at straws rally we saw in Asian and early European hours yesterday quickly came to an end", Mr Halley said. With geopolitics subsuming data this week, it is hard to construct a bullish case for equities in the days ahead, he added.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was the biggest STI decliner, shedding 2.9 per cent or four cents to $1.36. The shipbuilding and repairing company had announced on Monday that its independent director Teo Yi-Dar is assisting with police investigations.

Dairy Farm shares fell 2.5 per cent or US$0.07 to close at US$2.74, while Singapore Airlines shares dropped 2.4 per cent or 13 cents to close at $5.26.

The trio of local banks - DBS, UOB and OCBC Bank - traded between 0.7 and 1.4 per cent lower.

Only two STI constituents ended the day unchanged: CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and HongkongLand, which closed at S$2.13 and US$5.61 respectively.

Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 363 to 158 after 1.5 billion securities worth $1.1 billion changed hands.

SIA Engineering, SIA's maintenance arm, fell 3 per cent or 7 cents to $2.25, after stating that it would have been in a loss position of $7 million for the third quarter ended Dec 31, if not for government wage support and a one-time write-back of tax provisions.