Daily Markets Briefing: STI down 1.95%

Find out who the biggest losers were.

According to KGI Fraser, Asian equities continued to slide on Wednesday as investor confidence continued to weaken on the back of low oil prices and worries over further devaluation of China’s currency. The Shanghai Composite was an exception to the downtrend as the index climbed 0.9%, despite renewed concerns over China’s slowing economy.

The Hang Seng Index also shed more than 1% despite the announcement of a string of fiscal stimulus and policies in the government’s budget to boost the region’s economy.

The STI also ended lower, losing 52.11 points or 2.0% to end at 2,619.96.

Here’s more from KGI Fraser:

Decliners (26) outnumbered gainers (2), with only SIA Engineering (S$3.460; +0.6%) and Golden Agri-Resources (S$0.375; +2.7%) closing in the green. Noble was the biggest decliner as the counter fell 9.3% after Moody’s downgraded the company further into the junk territory after Noble issued a profit warning.

The on-going corruption probe in Brazil also affected the rig builders, with both Keppel Corp (S$5.050; -4.2%) and Sembcorp Marine (S$1.565; -4.3%) tumbling more than 4%.

U.S. stocks managed to stage a turnaround after suffering early losses, with the Dow and S&P 500 closing higher by 0.3% and 0.4% respectively.