Markets remained volatile, with sell-offs resuming in yesterday's session as the coronavirus continued to dominate the news.
Tuesday's rebound was short-lived as traders were jolted by United States health officials expecting a sustained spread of the virus to take root there.
The Straits Times Index (STI), down 0.9 per cent shortly after the opening bell, traded in that range for most of the session before a late dip to close 40.72 points, or 1.29 per cent, lower at 3,117.52.
All but two - ComfortDelGro and Dairy Farm International - of the blue-chip index's 30 components ended in the red.
The STI's 30-day volatility measure is now 13.8 per cent.
With volatility reigning supreme, most other Asia-Pacific benchmarks also struggled to put up consecutive sessions of gains. Australia, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan all posted losses.
That said, the sell-off in Asia was more measured compared with that in Europe and the US, possibly due to regional markets already pricing in the economic impact of the coronavirus for a month.
Interestingly, gold prices moved in tandem with equity market performance. AxiCorp chief market strategist Stephen Innes attributed the yellow metal's weakness "to a combination of profit-taking, and liquidation to raise cash, likely related to margin requirements".
Trading volume was 1.52 billion securities while total turnover came to $1.45 billion. Decliners trumped advancers 321 to 133.
Penguin International fell 4.9 per cent to 67.5 cents after it posted FY2019 revenue of $136.3 million and net profit of $19.4 million, both of which were in line with street expectations.
Analysts remained positive on the manufacturer of niche high-speed aluminium craft.
CGS-CIMB analyst Cezzane See said: "We like Penguin as it is increasingly profitable, cheap (compared with) domestic peers and still in a net cash position, which will accord it dry powder to shore up its build-to-stock inventory."
With risk-averse behaviour dominating, tech manufacturer AEM Holdings fell 1.8 per cent to $2.17 despite FY2019 net profit jumping by almost four times to $16.7 million.
Sector counterpart UMS Holdings slid 2.6 per cent to 94 cents. CGS-CIMB on Tuesday upgraded UMS to "add" and raised its target price to $1.08 after revising revenue forecasts upwards for the precision engineering firm.
