STI starts week on feeble note, ends flat

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http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/premium/singapore-markets/others/sti-ends-flat-starts-week-feeble-note-20140819

There was no celebratory dance-around-the-bonfire moment for the stock market this midsummer.

Renewed tension in Ukraine and more signs of weakness in China's property market led the market to drift as investors camped away from stocks.

Simmering Kiev-Kremlin tension in the fourth month of its conflict was led by reports last Friday that Ukraine destroyed a Russian military convoy as it entered east Ukraine.

The news hurt Wall Street causing the Dow to slip 0.3 per cent while the S&P500 fell nearly 0.1 per cent.

In China, the average price of new homes fell for a third straight month in July, in yet another signal of a market downturn.

The Straits Times Index lost two points or 0.1 per cent to finish at 3,312.78.

Its regional peers had a mixed showing with Japan's Nikkei 225 inching up 0.03 per cent, South Korea's Kospi falling 0.5 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was little changed.

Still, China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.6 per cent.