SINGAPORE (Thomson Financial) - Singapore shares ended the morning session lower Thursday as investors cashed in recent strong gains in select blue chips.
Trading volumes remained thin and sentiment was still cautious over possible further fallout from the US subprime credit crisis despite the Federal Reserve's larger-than-expected rate cut on Tuesday.
At the midday break, the Straits Times index was down 12.72 points or 0.4 percent at 3,581.64, after trading between 3,569.92 and 3,607.27.
Losers beat gainers 341 to 267, with 1,066 shares unchanged.
Volume traded was 1.1 billion shares valued at 1.4 billion Singapore dollars.
Fraser Securities research head Najeeb Jarhom said while the Fed's move assured liquidity will remain abundant, he urged investors not to let their guard down 'as (the) volatility is far from over.'
'The Fed's 0.5 percent cut could imply that the US economy is not in good shape and that some bad news could be unveiled during the US reporting season next month,' Jarhom said.
'Already, the UK's Northern Rock has fallen victim to the subprime mortgage woes and this could spread to big US lenders in coming weeks,' he said.
Singapore Telecomunications was a key drag on the index, succumbing to profit-taking following yesterday's record-breaking run. The stock fell 14 cents to 3.84 Singapore dollars.
Other blue chip losers were Neptune Orient Lines, which slipped 10 cents to 5.25 dollars, Singapore Press Holdings, which dropped 2 cents to 4.36 dollars and StarHub, which eased 6 cents to 2.92 dollars.
Property heavyweights were mostly lower, with Keppel Land down 5 cents at 8.30 dollars, CapitaLand down 15 cents at 8.10 dollars, and Wing Tai down 4 cents at 3.62 dollars, although City Developments (other-otc: CDEVY.PK - news - people ) rose 40 cents to 16.30 dollars.
Southeast Asia's biggest bank, DBS Group, was also 40 cents higher at 20.50 dollars after announcing a 400-million-Singapore dollar share buyback.
Other banks were mixed, with United Overseas Bank (other-otc: UOVEY.PK - news - people ) rising 20 cents to 21.50 dollars, while Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp was down 10 cents at 8.80 dollars.
(1 US dollar = 1.50 Singapore dollars)
