Singapore shares closed 2.08 percent lower on Monday as the global financial crisis claimed new victims among Europe's ailing banks, dealers said. The blue chip Straits Times Index fell 50.12 points to 2,361.34. Volume totalled one million shares worth 1.12 billion Singapore dollars (794 million US) with 144 rising issues, 359 losers and 856 even.
Investors remained jittery amid signs of widening problems in the global financial sector, this time in Europe. Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg officials announced a plan on Sunday to partially nationalise Fortis and keep the US-born financial crisis from claiming another victim, while Britain's government moved to take lender Bradford and Bingley.
"There are no bright sparks, nothing to look forward to. Things are very, very dicey," said a trader at a bank-backed brokerage. Among local banks, DBS was off two cents to 16.90, United Overseas Bank sank 14 cents to 16.66 and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp lost nine cents to 7.07. Singapore Airlines eased 14 cents to 14.24, Singapore Telecommunications gave up seven cents to 3.14 and ST Engineering dropped four cents to 2.60.
Comments
Comments are closed.