Singapore shares skidded to five-week lows on Thursday as worries about China's steps to cool its economy and fears Sars may spread in China triggered selling in China-focused transport and commodity trading firms.
Commodity house, Noble Group, shippers Cosco Corp and Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), and China Aviation Oil, which supplies most of China's jet fuel imports, were among the biggest losers of the day.
But state-controlled rail operator SMRT Corp rumbled higher after reporting solid quarterly results, while cash-rich firms such as Singapore Press and MobileOne attracted buying as defensive plays.
The key Straits Times Index finished 1.93 percent, or 35.63 points, lower at 1,812.13, its biggest one-day drop since January 28 and its lowest close since January 2 this year. Losers pummelled gainers 385 to 33 overall, as volume rose to 878 million shares from 539 million on Wednesday.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday that China was committed to forceful measures to reign in its dangerously fast-growing economy.
Shipping company COSCO sank 10 percent to 72 Singapore cents in heavy volume of 33.8 million shares and government-linked shipper NOL dived 9.0 percent to S$1.91. Jet fuel supplier China Aviation dropped 5.3 percent to S$2.13. "The fall should be expected because all of these are cyclical stocks. If they have benefited on the way up when the economy was going strong, obviously they should take the biggest beating on the way down," said Teng of Target Asset.
But SMRT rose 4.3 percent to 61 Singapore cents in brisk volume of 6.0 million shares. Its net profit for the January to March quarter was S$41.4 million ($24.5 million), up 233 percent from S$12.5 million a year earlier, which some analysts said was better than expectations.
Media group Singapore Press (SPH) gained 0.5 percent to S$21.30 and phone operator MobileOne added 0.7 percent to S$1.44.
"SPH's valuation is reasonable and in the current environment people are running back to safety," said Teng, who owns SPH.
ST Assembly, which slumped 4.2 percent on Wednesday, fell another 5.7 percent to S$1.50 after the chip testing firm posted a first quarter profit of $4.1 million that was lower than the average forecast of four analysts of $7.7 million. It was also lower than the $7.8 million profit in the December quarter. But the firm's net revenues rose 11 percent quarter-on-quarter to $132.3 million, beating the firm's own forecast for a five percent growth.
Weakness in its US peers sent shares of microchip manufacturer Chartered Semiconductor plunging 7.5 percent to S$1.49.