There's going to be turbulence for some time.
SINGAPORE, May 23 (Reuters) - Singapore shares fell 1.4 percent by midday on Monday,
following the regional trend as markets were weighed down by worries that Greece's
debt problems could hurt the global economic recovery.
Shares of Neptune Orient Lines were a big index loser on concerns a slowdown in
economic activity could affect demand for container shipping.
NOL fell 2.7 percent to S$1.83 by the lunch break, underperforming the Straits Times
Index , which fell 43.33 points at 3,125.21. The total value of shares traded in the
morning session was S$861.1 million, up from S$785.3 million on Friday.
"The STI is down largely due to concerns over the Europe sovereign crisis and rating
agencies putting up cautious notes on the troubled debtor nations," said Ng Kian
Teck, an analyst at SIAS Research.
He said he expects the STI to find support at 3,100 in the afternoon.
Fitch Ratings cut Greece's debt ratings by three notches on Friday, pushing the
country deeper into junk, while rival Standard & Poor's cut its outlook for
Italy to "negative" from "stable" on Saturday.
"U.S. leading indicators turned down last Thursday and this may exert more downward
pressure on the markets for this week," said Ng.
Shares of Chinese shipbuilder COSCO fell as much as 3.5 percent to S$1.96 after a
news report said some irregularities were found in the 2009 financial statements of
17 Chinese state-owned enterprises.
China's National Audit Office audited the financial statements of 17 SOEs, including
COSCO's Chinese parent, and found several irregularities and disciplinary
violations, Xinhua news agency said in a report dated late Friday.
Palm oil firm Indofood Agri Resources plunged 13.2 percent to S$1.77 on concerns
that its unit PT SIMP's initial public offering could dilute its
earnings per share.
"The IPO could pose downside risks to our IFAR earnings estimates through potential
EPS dilution, as well as possible holding company discount once its main operating
asset is listed separately," said Goldman Sachs in a report. (Reporting by Charmian
Kok; Editing by