Singapore stock market plunges 3.27%, Shanghai tumbles 8%

By

Angela Tanangelat@sph.com.sg

Singapore shares continued to tumble, with the blue-chip Straits Times Index (STI) shedding more than 3 per cent as concerns over China's slowing economic growth rate continued to spook the market. 

PHOTO: ST FILE

AUG 24, 201511:21 AM

Singapore shares continued to tumble, with the blue-chip Straits Times Index (STI) shedding more than 3 per cent as concerns over China's slowing economic growth rate continued to spook the market.

At 11:16am, the STI was trading around 2,873.90, down 3.27 per cent, or 97.11 points. More than 730 million shares, valued at S$718.6 million, changed hands, with 27 gainers to 432 losers.

Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite index has erased all its gains year-to- date. The index traded to 3,221.67, down 8.16 per cent. At 10:45am, it was trading around 3,231.00, down 7.89 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, stock markets were also trampled. In Taiwan, the benchmark Taiwan Stock Exchange Weighted Index plunged as much as 7.2 per cent, the biggest drop since 1990.

In Indonesia, the benchmark Jakarta Composite Index shed as much as 4.61 per cent, capping its biggest decline since August 2013.

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index lost as much as 3.03 per cent, biggest fall since 2011.

Worse is yet to come for global equities before buying opportunities emerge. Doug Ramsey, whose quantitative research into market breadth, valuation and investor sentiment foreshadowed the drubbing in American stocks last week, told Bloomberg that the selling would get worse. The chief investment officer of Leuthold Weeden Capital Management LLC said should the current plunge worsen, the US Federal Reserve would probably postpone raising interest rates.

Speaking at CNBC's Squawk Box on Monday morning, DBS Consumer Banking Group's Chief Investment Officer, Lim Say Boon, said strategies would depend on individuals' time frames. Tactical traders - those with a 3-month time frame - should be short-selling equities where possible, buying inverse ETFs (exchange traded funds), buying put options, selling call options, buying the US Dollar, and buying gold. Longer term investors could use this volatility to buy assets on the decline.