Singapore shares closed 0.43 percent lower on Friday, erasing intraday gains as investor confidence turned wobbly despite moves by several major central banks to cut interest rates, dealers said. The main Straits Times Index fell 7.71 points to 1,794.20.
Volume traded totalled 1.6 billion shares worth 1.46 billion Singapore dollars (986 million US) with 293 rising issues, 196 losers while 867 issues were even. Initial euphoria over the rate cuts announced by the Federal Reserve and other central banks including the Bank of Japan has given way to worries about corporate earnings, dealers said.
"Earnings-wise, it's not too pretty so far," a local house trader told Dow Jones Newswires. Singapore banks, seen as bellwether stocks, are likely to feel the pain from the global downturn with all three local banks closing lower. DBS Group lost 48 cents to 11.02, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp was off 25 cents at 4.90 while United Overseas Bank (UOB) sank 62 cents to 13.02.
UOB announced Friday net profit in the third quarter ended September fell an annual 5.1 percent to 475 million Singapore dollars as the financial crisis hurt non-interest income and raised impairment charges.
Among the blue chips, Singapore Airlines bucked the weak trend to finish 30 cents higher at 11.08, Singapore Telecommunications was steady at 2.43 and Neptune Orient Lines was off 12 cents to 1.21. In the property sector, CapitaLand was even at 2.85, City Developments dropped 35 cents to 6.30 and Keppel Land gained 10 cents to 1.85.