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STOCKS here fell yesterday amid a broader slide across most of Asia as concerns over the recovery path for corporate earnings and the world economy continued to trouble investors.
The Straits Times Index ended 26.46 points, or one per cent, lower at 2,569.93, after falling as much as 1.4 per cent earlier in the day.
Overnight in the United States, major equity indices fell 2 per cent or more, led by declines in financial services groups.
In Singapore, commodity related stocks suffered some of the biggest declines.
Olam International, a supplier of agricultural commodities worldwide, slumped 7.3 per cent to end at $2.29, after it said that it was raising US$400 million through the sale of seven-year convertible bonds to fund expansion plans and potential acquisitions.
Palm oil groups Golden Agri-Resources and Wilmar International were also slid, as the price of crude palm oil futures traded on Bursa Malaysia fell 2.5 per cent, extending decline of 2.8 per cent on Tuesday.
Golden Agri slumped 3.2 per cent to end at 45 cents, while Wilmar finished the day 2.6 per cent lower at $6.26.
Indofood Agri Resources, a large palm oil producer that is not in the ST Index, lost 3.7 per cent to close at $1.56.
Hong Kong-based Noble Group, which manages global supply chains in food, energy and metals, slid 2.4 per cent to end at $2.04.
Of the STI's 30 member stocks, 19 fell, while 11 ended higher.
Among the stocks that limited the losses in the index was gaming firm Genting Singapore. Its shares surged 7 per cent to end at $1.07.
Genting was also the most heavily traded counter in the overall market yesterday. Some 227.5 million of its shares had changed hands by the time trading ended.
Other STI stocks that defied the slide in the index to end higher were transport group ComfortDelGro Corp, which rose 4.5 per cent to $1.61; shipping group Neptune Orient Lines, which gained 4.3 per cent to end at $1.70; and mobile phone operator StarHub, which finished 1.4 per cent up at $2.20.
The overall market showed clear signs of weakness.
Losing counters outnumbered gainers 340-111, with 423 unchanged. That excludes warrants and bonds, whose prices sometimes move in the opposite direction of a company's share price.
The FTSE ST All-Share index, which tracks 263 of the most liquid stocks here, fell one per cent, matching the slide in the STI.
But the FTSE ST Catalist Index that tracks sponsor-supervised stocks listed on the junior board here edged up by 0.3 per cent.
Trading volume was lower than the previous day.
Some 2.59 billion units worth $1.85 billion changed hands, compared with 3.08 billion units worth $1.91 billion on Tuesday, excluding shares traded in foreign currencies.
Elsewhere in the region, most other major stock benchmarks also ended lower, except in mainland China, where the CSI 300 index tracking stocks listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen gained 1.7 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.8 per cent to end at 19,522.00, while Japan's Nikkei-225 index finished 2.4 per cent lower at 10,280.46.
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