Singapore stocks drift lower as lenders drag

Singapore stocks edged lower on Wednesday, dragged lower by financial shares such as DBS Group even as Asian equities trading near decade highs on easing Catalan worries.

SGX
SGX Logo. Reuters

Singapore stocks edged lower on Wednesday, dragged lower by financial shares such as DBS Group even as Asian equities trading near decade highs on easing Catalan worries.

Asian shares rose while the euro hovered near a 10-day peak after Catalonia's leader talked down immediate plans to secede from Spain.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan nudged 0.24 percent higher to test a recent decade peak of 545.56.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said that while an October 1 referendum had given him the mandate to pursue independence, he would "suspend" the result for a period of some weeks for dialogue with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's administration.

The Straits Times Index fell 0.26 percent or 9 points to 3,280. It ended 0.08 percent lower on Tuesday, taking the year-to-date performance to about 14 percent.

United Overseas Bank declined 0.6 percent, Overseas-Chinese Banking Corp lost 0.2 percent while DBS Group Holdings dropped 0.7 percent.

Spackman Entertainment, a South Korean theatrical film production group, jumped 4.3 percent after it entered into an agreement with four independent third parties to buy Korean film production company Take Pictures for S$3.9 million.

New Silkroutes Group climbed 6.3 percent after its unit Healthsciences International acquired 70 percent stakes in three dental clinics in Singapore for S$3.2 million to expand its healthcare business.

About 2 billion shares worth S$1.1 billion changed hands, with losers outnumbering gainers 235 to 221.

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