The STI is flat at 3,175.37, with the Singapore market shrugging off the positive lead from Wall Street and continuing its recent weak tone amid mixed regional bourses; volume is low again at 277 million shares and expected to stay that way until year-end, barring any shocks from overseas.

“(China) could certainly introduce some surprise (tightening measures) but beyond that it doesn’t seem to be anything more than this typical year-end winding down after a fairly strong year. The current market mood is likely to persist unless we see some significant external development before people come back and reallocate their portfolios next year,” says CIMB economist Song Seng Wun.

SingTel (Z74.SG) is the second most active stock and it’s off 0.6% at $3.10. STX OSV (MS7.SG) +8.8% at $1.11 in good volume, after recent order newsflow and a Goldman Sachs initiation at Buy. Key support remains at 3,120.