Singapore shares turn lower in mid-afternoon trade on US economic concerns

Singapore shares turn lower in mid-afternoon trade on US economic concerns

	Published : Tue, 08 Jan 2008 08:40 By : Agencies Print this Story

SINGAPORE (Thomson Financial) - Singapore shares turned lower in mid-afternoon trade Tuesday as worry about a US recession continued to weight on sentiment.

At 3.45 pm, the Straits Times Index was 10.04 points or 0.3 percent lower at 3,343.02, off a high of 3,372.42.

Decliners led gainers 437 to 236, with 1,035 stocks unchanged.

There were 1.42 billion shares traded worth 1.36 billion Singapore dollars.

'Slower global growth, domestic inflation pressures and higher risk aversion will likely continue to create a volatile trading environment for the Singapore market in 2008,' said Citigroup in a note to clients.

'We believe Singapore's market valuation is fair, but earnings could be at risk if margins are eroded by higher costs, currency and weaker demand,' it said.

Property stocks were weak, with City Developments down 42 cents at 12.58 dollars, Wing Tai down 6 cents at 2.51 dollars and Keppel Land down 8 cents at 6.97 dollars.

CapitaLand was down 25 cents at 6 dollars after Southeast Asia's biggest property developer made an offer to buy the remaining stake in serviced apartment operator The Ascott Group Ltd for 1.73 Singapore dollars a share.

The offer was considered expensive by some analysts. The offer price represents a 43 percent premium over Ascott's last traded price of 1.21 dollars a share and a 145 percent premium above Ascott's book value of 70.60 cents.

Banking shares were also weak, with DBS group down 12 cents at 20.12 dollars, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp down 6 cents at 8.13 dollars and United Overseas bank down 18 cents at 18.90 dollars.

(1 US dollar = 1.43 Singapore dollars)

jonathan.burgos@thomson.com

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