Singapore shares closed flat on Wednesday, with debutant FibreChem Technologies being the lone bright spark in dull overall trade.
The prospect of impending US interest rate hikes cooled appetite for banks and blue chips, with activity confined to specific stocks such as oil and gas group Singapore Petroleum, which saw some buying in anticipation of a strong set of quarterly results after the market close, dealers said.
"Today happens to be very cautious after Wall Street's overnight sharp drop. There is also not much fresh leads that will excite the market," said John Yap, director at Singapore brokerage UOB Kay Hian Pte Ltd. "It's so quiet here."
The key Straits Times index edged down 0.11 percent, or 2.01 points, to 1,848.41. But it is still up five percent since the start of the year.
In the broader market, losers beat gainers 198 to 105 as share volumes were steady at 840 million against Tuesday's 834 million.
Fibrechem was the most actively traded stock, accounting for a fifth of total market volumes. It ended at 48 Singapore cents, above its initial public offering price of 36.5 cents, in brisk trade of 173 million shares.
Analysts said the market was going through a consolidation phrase and could weaken further over the next month.
"Generally there are many concerns that the market is facing right now. Rising interest rates is one of them," said Timothy Wong, head of research at DBS Vickers Securities.
"The (other) main issue is the economic outlook for the second half of the year, whether the recovery momentum can be sustained or whether it has already peaked," he said.
Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan is slated to testify on the US economy later on Wednesday but early comments by him that the US economy seemed to have turned the corner and the threat of deflation was over had raised speculation of impending rate hikes soon to cool the world's largest economy.
Singapore Petroleum rose 4.4 percent at S$3.08.
Singapore's three banks, which account for about 40 percent of the index's weighting, lost ground after recent gains. DBS Group Holdings fell 0.7 percent to S$13.70 and United Overseas Bank was down 0.7 percent at S$13.50. OCBC settled flat at S$12.10.
Computer peripherals maker Creative Technology also fell 1.7 percent to S$17.60. Retailer Robinson dived 27.3 percent to S$6.00 as investors who bought shares in Singapore's oldest department store from Wednesday would no longer be entitled to its latest dividend.