SGX extends losses to day 4; RHT rallies 10% after Fortis offer

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.16 percent.

sgx
SGX Logo. Reuters

Singapore stocks fell for a fourth session on Wednesday, tracking weakness in other Asian equities after weaker crude oil prices took a toll on Wall Street.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.16 percent.

In commodities, crude oil prices stretched losses, weighed by forecasts for rising U.S. crude output and a gloomier outlook for global demand growth in a report from the International Energy Agency.

Stocks have made little headway this month as scant progress on U.S. tax reform and record high levels for many markets restrict appetite for risk-taking investments.

The Straits Times Index dipped 0.89 percent or 30 points to 3,368. It ended 0.59 percent lower on Tuesday, taking the year-to-date performance to about 18 percent.

United Overseas Bank lost 0.8 percent, Oversea-Chinese Bank declined 1 percent while DBS Group Holdings dropped 0.5 percent.

Cosco Shipping, a provider of ship building and marine engineering services, declined 3.4 percent after hitting a record high in the previous session. The company appointed Wang Kang Tian as the chief financial offer on Tuesday.

Singapore Post, which provides domestic and international postal services, shed 0.8 percent after it reported a 9.5 percent drop in second-quarter profit due to lower domestic mail revenue, higher costs and lack of one-off gains.

But Noble Group ended unchanged at S$0.20 after the commodity trader said it was in preliminary talks with "various stakeholders" to address the its deteriorating financial position.

Singapore-listed health care company RHT Health Trust jumped 10 percent after its controlling shareholder Fortis Healthcare proposed to buy the entire asset portfolio of the firm for 46.5 billion Indian rupees (S$965.95 million).

About 2 billion shares worth S$1.3 billion changed hands, with losers outnumbering gainers 323 to 134.

READ MORE