Singapore shares fell at midday on Thursday as Japan’s worsening nuclear crisis, the unrest in the Middle East and weak housing data from the United States weighed on investor sentiment, and trading is expected to be sideways in the afternoon.
By the midday break, the Straits Times Index (STI) <.FTSTI> was down 1.07%, or 31.70 points, at 2,939.30. The total value of shares traded in the morning session was S$801.9 million, lower than S$967.1 million on Wednesday.
Blue-chip stocks such as Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI) and CapitaLand (CATL.SI) fell around 2% each. Local traders said the STI may trade range-bound between 2,930 and 2,950 points in the afternoon.
“It’s a confluence of a lot of things happening. This could also be a reflection of some of the negative data points coming out of the U.S,” said Andrew Chow, head of research at UOB Kay Hian.
“Once Japan settles down, next people will start talking more about the Middle East where Bahrain is under a lot of unrest. There’s a lot of fear factor at work because things are very uncertain,” he added.
Housing starts in the U.S. tumbled 22.5% last month to an annual rate of 479,000 units, just shy of a record low set in April 2009 and w
Shares of Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI), the world’s second biggest carrier by market value, came under selling pressure on concerns about lower passenger travel demand in the wake of the Japan crisis.
SIA said on Thursday it will delay the launch of Airbus A380 services to Tokyo and Los Angeles as there was less demand for travel to Japan.
The stock fell as much as 2.6% and at midday was down 1.4% at S$13.02 on a volume of 1.5 million shares.
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