after mondays crash singapores straits times index is now down almost 16 per cent year to date 11149

Singapore’s Straits Times Index crashed over 4 per cent as a sell-off gripped global stocks following an 8.5 per cent rout in Chinese share markets. With fears relating to Chinese economic growth adding to lacklustre prospects for the domestic Singaporean economy, local investors chose to bail out of stocks with a vengeance.

The STI’s fall on Monday was its biggest since the global financial crisis in 2008.

Indices and sectors

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 127.62 points or 4.3 per cent lower at 2,843.39, taking the year-to-date performance to -15.50 per cent.

The FTSE ST Mid Cap Index declined 4.58 per cent, while the FTSE ST Small Cap Index declined 5.99 per cent.

The Singapore Exchange traded a volume of 1,847.0 million shares valued at SG$1,893 million. Losers outnumbered gainers by 522/50.

Amongst the FTSE ST sectors, the big losers included healthcare (-7.26 per cent), basic materials (-6.87 per cent), utilities (-6.56 per cent), China top index (-6.29 per cent), China (-5.87 per cent), real estate holding and development (-5.78 per cent) and consumer goods (-5.23 per cent). There were no gaining sectors.

Stocks

Fourth-quarter earnings at software solutions provider Silverlake Axis Ltd (SGX:5CP), the most recent target of a short seller’s research report, rose just 1 per cent to RM74.7 million (SG$25 million), according to the Straits Times. However, quarterly revenue was down 8 per cent to RM126.4 million on the back of lower sales of software and hardware, as well as software licensing. However, according to the Business Times, Silverlake’s bottom-line was helped by an accounting gain from the public listing of an associate company.

Economic news

Data released by Singapore’s Department of Statistics showed that overall inflation trended slightly lower to -0.4 per cent in July compared to -0.3 per cent in June, marking this its ninth successive month in negative territory, according to the Business Times. It also represents the longest continuous stretch during which headline inflation proved negative after a similar period that lasted from June to December 2009. A fall in car prices and a soft housing market were the primary drivers for the decline in consumer prices.

Oil tumbled up to 6 per cent to new six and half year lows owing to the global volatility in financial markets. US October crude fell US$2.21 or 5.5 percent to settle at US$38.24, the lowest since February 2009. Brent October crude fell US$2.77, or 6.1 percent, to settle at US$42.69 a barrel, according to Channel News Asia.

On Wall Street Monday, stocks closed well above the lowest points of the day but nevertheless fell by a substantial margin, as the global stock market tremours earlier during the day fed into the mainline US indices. The Dow plunged over 1,000 points after the markets opened in reaction to the decline in Chinese stock markets, as well as worries about Chinese economic growth. The broad-based S&P 500 tumbled 77.68 points (3.94 per cent) to 1,893.21. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 588.40 points (3.57 per cent) to 15,871.35, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index shed 179.79 points (3.82 per cent) at 4,526.25, as reported by Channel News Asia.