Singapore share prices closed down 1.72 percent on Tuesday tracking similar losses in the region after overnight falls on Wall Street battered market sentiment, dealers said. They said further comments from officials at the US Federal Reserve had again raised the prospect of further interest rate hikes after it meets next week, prompting another sharp sell-off.
The Straits Times Index closed down 40.79 points at 2,327.11 on volume of 658.15 million shares, worth 710.30 million Singapore dollars (446.73 million US). Losers beat gainers 381 to 135 with 709 shares unchanged.
"Overall, the local trend seems to be dictated by global markets where, repeatedly, all the markets are paranoid about ongoing interest rates concerns," said a dealer at a local brokerage.
Blue chips closed lower with ST Engineering down 0.07 at 2.73, Singapore Airlines down 0.20 at 12.50, Singapore Press Holdings flat at 3.980 and Singapore Telecommunications easing 0.02 to 2.50. Technology stock Venture Corp lost 0.20 to 10.60, Chartered Semiconductor fell 0.05 to 1.36 and Creative Technology was off 0.15 at 8.10. The property sector also fell. City Developments eased 0.35 to 9.00, Keppel Land lost 0.14 to 3.90 and CapitaLand retreated 0.16 to 4.20. Banking stock DBS fell 0.30 to 16.80, United Overseas Bank was down 0.20 at 15.00 and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp lost 0.10 at 6.30.