STI resumes fall as Covid-19 fears fester
Index down 40.96 points at 2,440.27; Trump warns of a 'very, very painful 2 weeks' for the US
SINGAPORE'S Straits Times Index (STI) slipped on Wednesday as worries over Covid-19 infection numbers and economic damage triggered by the virus continued to bug investors.
Overnight, US President Donald Trump warned of a "very, very painful two weeks" for the US as American deaths from the coronavirus could hit 240,000. Fears are also mounting over a spike in infections in India, which until recently was relatively shielded from the outbreak.
China's private survey of factory data, which focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), may have pointed to an expansion in March. But manufacturing data in Japan and South Korea saw considerable falls, weighing on sentiment.
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