SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - Singapore shares headed south yesterday in line with a broader decline in regional markets as investors stayed cautious amid the spread of Covid-19.

A modest performance overnight on Wall Street did not help the mood either, with the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq all recording marginal gains.

The Straits Times Index (STI) responded by falling 0.5 per cent, or 17.31 points, to 3,165.49 and was down 0.4 per cent for the week, snapping a six-week win streak.

Losers outnumbered gainers 251 to 216 yesterday, after 1.47 billion securities worth $1.18 billion changed hands.

Mr Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda, said in a note that government virus containment measures across China - including at the Ningbo port - and the "now ever-present threat of government regulatory action", were weighing on China equity markets.

He noted that Singapore markets, with their high connections to China, had also fallen.

Among the STI counters, OCBC Bank was the largest decliner yesterday, with its shares falling 2.6 per cent to close at $11.97, as the stock went ex-dividend.

Other decliners included Wilmar International, off 1.6 per cent, and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, down 1.4 per cent.

OCBC and Dairy Farm International were the top decliners over the week, each falling 3.6 per cent.

Singtel gained 0.8 per cent yesterday to close at $2.39, finishing second on the STI performance table behind City Developments (CDL).

Singtel was up 4.8 per cent for the week - the top STI performer - after it posted a net profit of $445 million for its first quarter, reversing the previous year's net loss.

Elsewhere in Asia, stocks in Japan, Hong Kong, China and South Korea finished lower, with major indexes falling between 0.1 per cent and 1.2 per cent.

But Australia's ASX200 hit another record high after rising 0.5 per cent yesterday.