Roundup: Singapore stocks end down 1.93 pct

Singapore shares closed 1.93 percent lower on Thursday, after U.S. stocks suffered steep losses overnight amid rout in oil prices and worries about the global economy.

U.S. crude prices were still hovering near Tuesday's low of 29.93 U.S. dollars per barrel, which was its lowest level since December 2003. Global benchmark Brent crude futures also fell to 29.96 U.S. dollars overnight before settling slightly above 30 U.S. dollars a barrel. U.S stocks fell near to 16,000 points level amid concern over persistent weakness in oil prices.

Meanwhile, investors continued to watch the movement of Chinese yuan throughout the day. Yuan was firm on Thursday after the People's Bank of China set its midpoint rate at 6.5616 per U.S. dollar prior to market open, firmer than the previous fix of 6.563.

Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index plunged 51.93 points to 2,644.57 points. Trading volume was 1.34 billion shares worth 1.22 billion Singapore dollars. Decliners outnumbered advancers 327 to 100, while 460 stocks did not move.

Among top actives, Ezra Holdings fell 2.6 percent to 7.6 Singapore cents. The provider of offshore support services to the oil and gas industry reported its first quarterly loss since its listing in 2003. It incurred a first-quarter net loss of 53.7 million U.S. dollars compared to earnings of 60.6 million U.S. dollars the year before, dragged down by weakness in the offshore support and production services division. However, its revenue increased 19 percent to 152.3 million U.S. dollars, mainly due to higher revenue from marine services division.

Among the top gainers, Singapore Airlines rose 0.5 percent to 11.11 Singapore dollars, whereas Jardine Cycle and Carriage became one of the top losers by falling 2.5 percent to 32.76 Singapore dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 1.44 Singapore dollars) Enditem