Singapore’s Straits Times Index dropped 0.6% to 3,224.08 as of 9:44 a.m. local time. Six stocks dropped for each that rose in the benchmark equity index of 30 companies.

Shares on the measure trade at an average 14.7 times estimated earnings, compared with about 15.6 times at the end of 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The following shares were among the most active in the market. 

 

Commodity suppliers: The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index, which tracks prices of 19 commodities from copper to corn, gained fell 0.1% in New York yesterday.

 

Noble Group (NOBL SP), a Hong Kong-based commodities supplier, dropped 1.7% to $2.28. Olam International (OLAM SP), a Singapore-based supplier of agricultural commodities, slipped 1.3% to $3.17.

 

First Resources (FR SP), an Indonesian palm oil producer, slumped 8.1% to $1.48 after controlling shareholder, Eight Capital Inc., sold 75 million shares at $1.48 each. Eight Capital still holds 68% following the share placement, it said.

 

First Ship Lease Trust (FSLT SP), a Singapore-based ship- leasing company, decreased 2.1% to 46.5 cents. The company said fourth-quarter net distributable income tumbled 37% to US$5.7 million ($7.3 million) from a year ago.

 

M1 (M1 SP), Singapore’s smallest mobile-phone company, lost 0.8% to $2.48. The company said fourth-quarter net income increased 1% to $37.5 million from a year ago. CIMB Group Holdings lowered its rating on the stock to “neutral” from “outperform.”

Neptune Orient Lines (NOL SP), Southeast Asia’s biggest container carrier that gets more than half of its revenue from the Americas, declined 1.7% to $2.29. A government report showed builders began work on fewer homes than projected in December, a sign the industry that triggered the recession continued to struggle more than a year into the U.S. economic recovery.