Singapore share prices closed 0.83 percent lower on Tuesday as investors concerned over rising interest rates continued to lock in profits, dealers said.
They said a correction in the index was overdue and healthy for the market since the STI reached new records above 2,600 points earlier this month.
The Straits Times Index closed down 21.13 points at 2,513.70 on volume of 1.97 billion shares valued at 1.80 billion Singapore dollars (1.14 billion US).
Losers beat gainers 601 to 108 with 499 shares unchanged.
UOB Kay Hian director John Yap said the market has realised that global bourses have become overbought and fundamentals including high interest rates and oil prices are starting to exert a lot of pressure.
"Exorbitant fuel prices will probably derail some recovering economies and industry leaders," Yap said.
Banking shares closed mainly lower with United Overseas Bank off 0.10 at 15.60 and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp losing 0.15 to 6.65. DBS recovered from Monday's losses to close up 0.30 at 17.90.
Blue chips closed mixed as ST Engineering shed 0.05 to 2.89, Singapore Airlines lost 0.10 to 13.60, Singapore Press Holdings was flat at 4.20 and Singapore Telecommunications gained 0.02 to 2.61.
Creative Technology advanced 0.25 to 9.15 after suing rival MP3 player maker Apple Computer Co for alleged infringement of patents.
Other technology counters were also lower. Chartered Semiconductor fell 0.01 to 1.63 and STATS ChipPAC slipped 0.06 to 1.13.
Property shares closed the day mixed with City Developments retreating 0.10 to 9.80, CapitaLand losing 0.08 to 4.52 and Keppel Land gaining 0.10 to 4.68.