Singapore’s main index slipped to a seven-week low, in line with a fall in other Asian bourses, as cyclical commodity firms Noble Group and Golden Agri-Resources weighed.
By 1:04 P.M., the Straits Times Index was 0.3% lower at 3,028.13 points, while the MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.4%. Noble fell 1.9% to $1.285 while Golden Agri dropped 1.6% to $0.615.
DBS Vickers said the STI has seen a downward revision for forward earnings so far this year, with 13.3 times 2013 price-to-earnings for the index at 3,057 points, compared to 3,083 last week.
Unless there is further upward earnings revision, the STI will likely head lower this month to 2,985 points, and concerns over an environment with declining growth and inflationary pressures will continue to weigh on sentiment, DBS said.
Taxi operator ComfortDelGro Corp fell 2.4% to $1.65, after a block deal of 320,000 shares was transacted at that price. A total of 1.8 million shares changed hands by midday.
Shares of public transport provider SMRT Corp fell 1.7% to $1.705 after the company cut its dividend to 1.50 cents a share for the first half of the year, compared with 1.75 cents a year earlier.
SMRT said its second quarter net profit fell 2.2% to $33.3 million from a year earlier, hurt by higher losses from its bus business and higher operating expenses for its trains.
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