Singapore share prices closed sharply lower on Tuesday on profit-taking following Wall Street's pullback and weakness in other regional bourses, dealers said. The Straits Times Index closed down 53.13 points or 1.87 percent at 2,787.81. It was the first time the index dropped below 2,800 points in five sessions.
Volume was 1.47 billion shares worth 1.32 billion Singapore dollars (857 million US). Losers outdid gainers 557 to 105 with 674 shares unchanged. Property and bank stocks were among the worst hit. DBS Group Holdings gave up 0.60 to 20.20 and United Overseas Bank was down 0.40 at 18.40. Oversea Chinese Banking Corporation was unchanged at 7.20.
Property heavyweights also lost, as CapitaLand Ltd fell 0.25 to 5.75, City Developments dropped 0.50 to 11.80 and Keppel Land was 0.50 lower at 6.20. "I think at the moment, the market is in a corrective phase and this will carry on for some time," a foreign brokerage dealer said.
Fraser Securities research head Najeeb Jarhom said the market may have become a little stretched but added "it is not likely to reach a full blown correction similar to the mid-year 14.6 percent plunge from 2,666 to 2,278 points."
Jarhom said he sees strong support at last month's high of 2,754 points. Among blue chips, Singapore Telecommunications fell 0.03 to 2.93, Singapore Airlines declined 0.20 to 15.40, Singapore Press Holdings was 0.04 lower at 4.30 and ST Engineering slipped 0.06 to 3.02.
Technology stocks also gave up gains led by Chartered Semiconductor, which fell 0.06 to 1.34. STATS ChipPAC slipped 0.05 to 1.19 and United Test and Assembly Center pulled back 0.015 to 0.740. Venture Corp also declined 0.40 to 13.70 while Creative Technology fell 0.10 to 10.10.
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