Singapore shares close 8.33% lower
Posted: 24 October 2008 1743 hrs
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SINGAPORE : Singapore shares plunged 8.33 per cent on
Friday on fears of a global recession hurting corporate earnings,
dealers said.
The Straits Times Index fell 145.39 points to 1,600.28. It was the
index's lowest closing level since September 2003.
Volume was 1.36 billion shares. Losers led gainers 486 to
116.
"The mood on the trading floor is just terrible, the Nikkei is
collapsing... There are worries over the banks' results," a trader
with a local house told Dow Jones Newswires.
Japan's Nikkei index plunged more than nine per cent on Friday,
coming close to its post-bubble low after the yen surged and
technology giant Sony slashed its profit forecasts.
"Absolute carnage in Asia as recession fears spread like a wild
fire. Risk aversion is happening on a massive scale," Knight Equity
Markets vice president Ioan Smith said.
Among Singapore's leading blue chips, Singapore Airlines plunged
S$1.22 to S$10.52, Singapore Telecommunications was off 22 cents to
S$2.06 and Neptune Orient Lines dropped 13 cents to S$1.03.
Property stocks also closed weaker after the latest figures showed
private residential property prices fell in the third quarter, the
first decline in more than four years.
CapitaLand sank 19 cents to S$2.58, City Developments retreated 46
cents to S$6.10 and Keppel Land was nine cents lower at
S$1.59.
As for banks, DBS gave up 94 cents to S$10.04, United Overseas Bank
lost S$1.72 to S$12.08 and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp was down 61
cents at S$4.88. - AFP/ms
