Singapore shares fell by more than half a percent on Monday to their lowest close in about a week, as a spike in oil prices sparked a selloff in select blue chips that had gained early on.
The Straits Times Index ended down 10.45 points, or 0.55 percent, at 1,905.45, thanks to last-minute deals that pushed it off a low of 1,895.82. The index had hit a three-week intra-day high of 1,933.78 on Thursday.
In the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 234 to 86 in low turnover of 434 million shares.
Light crude for October delivery was up 15 cents at $43.33 at 0751 GMT in Asian trade of New York Mercantile Exchange futures.
That pulled down index-heavy banking stocks such as DBS Group Holdings and United Overseas Bank DBS fell 1.3 percent to S$15.50, its weakest close in two weeks. UOB fell 0.75 percent to S$13.20.
"The market is certainly not comfortable with the oil market and then overall there are very few factors to trade," said a dealer at a European brokerage.
Najeeb Jarhom, head of research at Fraser Securities, said low trading volumes exaggerated the down move.
Blue chip property developer City Developments (CityDev) ended steady at S$6.20, off an early high of S$6.30.
Dealers expect property shares to remain in focus after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Sunday the government would allow single Singaporeans above the age of 35 to buy flats of all sizes in public projects.
Unmarried citizens who want to buy state's Housing Development Board (HDB) flats can only tap the resale market and are not allowed to own units that have more than three rooms.
Brokers said the plan to remove the restriction might initially hit private property developers but would eventually lift demand for private apartments as many owners of bigger HDB flats might sell their units and move to private apartments.
"The move should lift demand for HDB 4-room units and above, thus allowing current HDB owners to upgrade to private property," said a research note by Kim Eng Securities.
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