SINGAPORE - Local shares mirrored falls across the region on Wednesday as investors took fright at renewed recession concerns in the United States.

Those concerns sent Wall Street down overnight and had much the same effect here with the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) falling 0.8 per cent or 26.92 points to close at 3,225.45.

Losers well outnumbered gainers 319 to 227 after 1.5 billion shares worth $1.1 billion were traded.

Key indexes elsewhere also fell, with shares in Japan, Shanghai and South Korea down between 0.4 per cent and 0.7 per cent.

Australian shares fell 0.8 per cent, their biggest one-day decline in five weeks, on the back of poor gross domestic product figures and more interest rate rises.

The standout loser was the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong, which tumbled 3.2 per cent after disappointing trade data in China overshadowed earlier reopening optimism.

UOB’s Global Economics and Market Research Team noted that the continuous expansion trend in China’s exports since mid-2020 ended in the third quarter.

“As the US and EU economies are expected to head into recession next year, the outlook for external demand will become more challenging,” they said, adding that investors will be hoping for stronger signals from policymakers on restoring confidence in the real estate market and the easing of Covid-19 curbs.

Most of the STI constituents – including all the local banks and real estate investment trusts (Reits) – ended the day in the red.

CapitaLand Investment finished at the bottom of the index performance table, slipping 3.8 per cent to close at $3.54.

Just four of the 30 STI constituents ended the day in positive territory. Hongkong Land was the top performer, rising 2.6 per cent to close at US$4.31.

Sembcorp Marine was the most active counter by volume. It fell 2.1 per cent to close at 14.2 cents after 104.3 million shares worth $14.8 million changed hands. THE BUSINESS TIMES