Singapore share prices closed 0.7 percent lower on Friday as the market continued nervous ahead of an expected hike in US interest rates and after overnight losses on Wall Street, dealers said.
They said that after recent volatile trade, investors want to see what the US Federal Reserve will have to say on the outlook for monetary policy next week given recent speculation it will continue to hike rates further. The Straits Times Index dropped 16.52 points to 2,343.03 on volume of 844.73 million shares worth 693.73 million Singapore dollars (434.27 million US).
Losers outpaced gainers 278 to 218, with 723 stocks unchanged. "Most of the expectations of a further interest rate hike have already been priced into the market," said a dealer with a local brokerage. Property stocks performed poorly with Keppel Land down 0.12 to 3.90 dollars , CapitaLand losing 0.04 to 4.32 and City Developments dropping 0.10 to 8.95. Technology stocks also fell. Creative Technology was down 0.15 to 8.15, Venture Corp lost 0.10 to 10.50 and Chartered Semiconductor dropped 0.02 to 1.37. In the banks, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp fell 0.05 to 6.35, United Overseas Bank was down 0.10 to 15.00, while DBS was flat at 17.20. Singapore Telecommunications fell 0.04 to 2.51, Singapore Airlines lost 0.10 to 12.50, Singapore Press Holdings was down 0.02 at 3.960 and ST Engineering dropped 0.20 to 2.720.
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