Singapore shares finish lower after six days of gains

Singapore shares ended a six-day winning streak to finish lower on Tuesday, with Singapore Airlines among the big losers after rival Qantas Airways announced plans to start a new budget airline based in the city state.
A tepid start for European markets and indications of a lower Wall Street also spurred selling in blue chips, dealers said.
The benchmark Straits Times index bounced off an intra-day high of 1,898.34 to end down 0.45 percent, or 8.53 points, at 1,881.67.
William Pitman, a fund manager at Henderson Global Investors, said he was bullish on Asian equities on the whole, but felt other markets in the region were more attractive than Singapore.
"We are slightly cautious compared to the rest of Asia, he said. "It's partly the structural issue here and how Singapore is positioned given that so much of the momentum of growth is now in North Asia".
In the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 233 to 107 as share turnover fell to about 840 million from Monday's 1.03 billion.
"The market is seeing some light profit-taking but the upward trend is basically still intact," said an assistant sales director with a European brokerage.
Singapore Airlines reversed a positive start to weaken 1.75 percent to S$11.20 after Qantas, Australia's biggest airline, said it would be a 49.9 percent shareholder in a new Singapore-based low-cost Asian airline.
The news came on the heels of Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew's comments that Singapore Airlines needed to restructure itself in the face of increased competition.
Shares in ground handler Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS) also fell 2.53 percent to S$1.93 after Lee suggested Singapore Airlines consider outsourcing some of its services and divesting some of its units, including SATS.
Other blue chips such as Keppel Corp shed 1.33 percent to S$7.40 after recent gains.
DBS Group Holdings slipped 0.71 percent to S$13.90 and United Overseas Bank shed 1.47 percent to S$13.40. OCBC Bank settled flat at S$12.60. The three banks account for close to 40 percent of the index's weighting.
Among top actives was Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, which fell 2.84 percent to S$1.71 on profit-taking with an active 12.6 million shares changing hands.
But China-based waste water treatment firm Bio-Treat Technology recouped earlier losses to end up 2.73 percent at S$1.13 in brisk trade of close to 74 million shares.