Singapore stocks lacklustre; Noble tanks 6%

Singapore stocks fell on Tuesday after earlier touching a more than two-year peak, dragged lower by commodity trader Noble Group and lenders such as OCBC Bank.

SGX
SGX Logo. Reuters

Singapore stocks fell on Tuesday after earlier touching a more than two-year peak, dragged lower by commodity trader Noble Group and lenders such as OCBC Bank.

Overnight, U.S. stocks retreated from record highs, bogged down by a drop in technology shares and poor performances from industrial heavyweights such as General Electric.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.1 percent firmer at 549.71 points, not far from a 10-year high of 554.63 set last week.

The Straits Times Index fell 0.45 percent or 15 points to 3,334. It ended 0.27 percent higher on Monday, taking the year-to-date performance to about 16 percent.

Overseas-Chinese Banking Corp lost 0.3 percent, United Overseas Bank fell 0.5 percent and DBS Group Holdings declined 0.2 percent each.

Embattled Noble Group plunged for a second session, down about 6 percent after saying it would sell its U.S. oil-liquids business to Vitol Group for about $580 million, as commodity trader tries to reduce debt.

Ascott Residence Trust, a serviced residence real estate investment trust, fell 1.2 percent after it reported a 28 percent drop in third-quarter distribution per unit.

CapitaLand Retail China Trust dropped 0.6 percent after it reported a 0.4 percent rise in third-quarter distribution per unit.

Life insurance company Great Eastern Holdings rose 0.1 percent after it reported a 21 percent jump in third-quarter net profit, driven by higher operating and non-operating profit, as well as higher profit from shareholders' fund's investments.

About 737 million shares worth S$404 million changed hands, with gainers outnumbering losers 169 to 165.

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