Singapore's stock market was one of the rare few in Asia that closed in the red yesterday, when even China managed to shrug off its lacklustre industrial activity data to go higher as investors were in the "buy the dips" mode.
The city-state's blue-chip gauge, the Straits Times Index (STI), dropped 5.72 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 3,161.22, after regaining some lost ground.
Aztech Global fell 3.94 per cent to $1.22 yesterday, as DBS lowered its target price to $1.74 on a "buy" call, and CGS-CIMB to $1.82 on a "hold" call.
Analysts were concerned about the technology solution provider's operational risks arising from component shortages.
Aztech last Friday reported net profits of $29.4 million for the six months ended June 30 - more than double the figure a year ago.
iFast shares climbed 5.61 per cent to $8.47 as the wealth management fintech platform reported that it had secured the prime sub-contractor job for Hong Kong's pension project.
Some 88.4 million of Sembcorp Marine shares changed hands, making it the most active counter yesterday. The counter closed at 11.6 cents or 0.87 per cent higher.
Losers trailed gainers on the broader market by 245 to 257, with 1.5 billion securities worth $1.13 billion transacted.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was the other benchmark that bucked the uptrend as it closed at 1,493, down 0.11 per cent.
The Shanghai Composite Index led the region, closing 1.97 per cent higher at 3,464.29, followed by the Nikkei 225 with a 1.82 per cent jump to 27,781.02. Next came the ASX 200 with a 1.34 per cent rise to 7,491.40; the Hang Seng Index, up 1.06 per cent at 26,235.80; and the Kospi, up 0.65 per cent at 3,223.04.
