Singapore shares end morning lower on US economic worries SINGAPORE (Thomson Financial) - Singapore shares ended the morning lower Monday in a broad-based sell-off following Wall Street's tumble Friday after much weaker-than-expected data rekindled fears of an imminent recession in the US. The US Labor Department said Friday non-farm payrolls slipped by 4,000 in August, the first decline since August 2003. Economists had expected payrolls to increase by 110,000.
At the break, the Straits Times Index (STI) was down 57.30 points or 1.6 percent at 3,431.
67 after trading between 3,390.86 and 3,436.09.
Losers beat gainers 601 to 127, with 936 stocks unchanged. Volume traded was 1.5 billion shares valued at 965.
6 million Singapore dollars. The weakening job market in the US likely cemented the case for a rate cut in the US when the Federal Reserve meets on Sept 18, with a growing possibility of a cut of 50 basis points. 'They will do everything they can to help prevent the US economy from going into a recession.
Hopefully, that will calm the market,' Phillip Securities managing director Loh Hoon Sun said. But DBS Vickers Securities retail strategist Yeo Kee Yan believes rate cuts in the US will give 'little comfort' to the local bourse. 'The worry that the US economy has stalled is likely to reduce investor appetite for risk and halt the STI's counter-trend rally,' Yeo said in a client note.
'We expect more uncertainties in October as investors grapple over the extent of a rate cut ahead of the Sept 18 meeting,' he said. Banking shares led the decliners, with DBS Group down 50 cents at 19.80 dollars, (other-otc: UOVEY.
PK - news - people ) down 40 cents at 21.00 dollars and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp off 15 cents at 8.60 dollars.
Among blue chip losers, Singapore Exchange fell 20 cents to 10.10 dollars as trading volumes continued to decrease, Singapore Telecoms slipped 2 cents to 3.60 dollars and ST Engineering was 10 cents lower at 3.
70 dollars.
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