Singapore shares lower at midday on Wall Street drop

Singapore shares were lower at midday on Tuesday as investors locked in gains after yesterday's rally following losses on Wall Street overnight.

The Dow industrials slipped 0.25 percent on Monday as crude oil prices rebounded above $131 a barrel on fears tensions in the Middle East could escalate.

At midday, the Straits Times Index retreated 19.89 points or 0.7 percent to 2,899.32.

There were 388.2 million shares traded valued at S$371.9 million.

Decliners led gainers 227 to 129, with 1,040 stocks unchanged.

"Although the US 'Fannie-Freddie' crisis has subsided, investors remained cautious ahead of U.S. as well as Singapore quarterly results," said Goh Mou Lih, research head of Westcomb Securities.

Goh advised investors who have accumulated stocks and bought on weakness to hold on to their positions until prices get better.

Banking shares were mixed, with DBS Group down 0.3 percent at S$19.12 and United Overseas Bank 1.5 percent lower at S$18.72 while Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp was steady at S$8.29.

Singapore Exchange fell 0.6 percent to S$6.91. DBS Vickers has slashed its target price for the bourse operator to S$7.00 from S$8.03 but stuck to its "hold" recommendation.

Property shares were mixed, with CapitaLand down 0.9 percent at S$5.82 and City Developments down 0.2 percent at S$10.84 while Keppel Land rose 0.4 percent to S$4.92.

Among other blue chips, Singapore Airlines eased 2.3 percent to S$15.22 and Singapore Telecom was 0.8 percent lower at S$3.53.

($1=S$1.35)

pearl.bantillo@thomsonreuters.com

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