SGX falls for fourth day; RHT Health Trust rallies 12% after Fortis offer

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.

Singapore stock exchange
An SGX sign is pictured at Singapore Stock Exchange 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.

At 0330 GMT, the Straits Times Index dipped 0.6 percent or 20 points to 3,379. It ended 0.59 percent lower on Tuesday, taking the year-to-date performance to about 18 percent.

United Overseas Bank lost 0.2 percent, Oversea-Chinese Bank declined 0.5 percent while DBS Group Holdings dropped 1 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 gained 6 percent 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 12 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 748 million shares worth S$444 million changed hands, with losers outnumbering gainers 213 to 127.

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