STI drops 2.6% to 2,720.53 at closing

Singapore’s Straits Times Index dropped 2.6% to 2,720.53 at the close. All stocks in the index of 30 companies fell. The following shares were among the most active in the market.

Commodity suppliers: The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index, which tracks prices of 19 commodities from copper to corn, slid 1.1% in New York yesterday.

Noble Group (NOBL SP), a Hong Kong-based supplier of energy, food and mining commodities, dropped 3.8% to $1.505. Olam International (OLAM SP), a Singapore-based supplier of agricultural commodities, declined 4.7% to $2.45.

 

Palm-oil producers: Crude palm-oil futures for December delivery dropped as much as 2% in Kuala Lumpur today.

 

Golden Agri-Resources (GGR SP), the world’s second- biggest palm-oil producer by sales, slid 2.2% to 67.5 cents. Wilmar International (WIL SP), the world’s largest palm-oil processor, slipped 2.3% to $5.16. First Resources (FR SP), an Indonesian plantation company, dropped 2.7% to $1.28.

 

Beyonics Technology (BT SP), a provider of electronics manufacturing services, sank 5.8% to 16.2 cents. The company it will report a loss for the year ended July due to lower demand from makers of hard disk drives.

 

Hongkong Land Holdings (HKL SP), one of the biggest landlords in the Chinese city’s central business district, slumped 6.7% to US$4.85 ($6.24). Deutsche Bank AG cut its rating on the stock to “sell” from “hold,” citing weakening office rents in Hong Kong. The brokerage lowered its share-price forecast by 41% to US$4.40.