Singapore - Singapore shares dropped by 3.4 per cent Thursday amid generally gloomy regional market news and overnight falls on Wall Street.

The Straits Times Index fell by 60.66 points or 3.4 per cent to 1,704.06.

The Singapore Exchange closed with 357 losers against 105 gainers.

Volume was 1,069.5 million shares.

Analysts said speculators forced a price correction on Thursday at the Singapore Exchange which had made recovery on Wednesday after a six straight days of losses.

New Delhi - India's main share indices plunged by almost 4 per cent on opening Thursday as it became clear that the government would not be bailing out fraud-hit information technology major Satyam Computer.

Satyam shares, which had staged a recovery over the past couple of days on hopes of a government bail-out, plunged by over 30 per cent soon after opening.

Shares of India's fourth-largest software exporter had plunged by 78 per cent last week after its founder Ramalinga Raju revealed a 1.43-billion-dollar accounting fraud.

After witnessing a huge rally yesterday (Jan 14), Indian equities belled the day on a weak note following negative global cues causing a massive sell-off.  

The 30-share index, BSE Sensex opened at 9,098.08, down 272.41 points from its last closure. After few minutes of trading, Sensex slipped below the 9,000 mark.

Realty stocks hit the most followed by information technology, metal and banking sectors. The annual inflation rate is likely to be announced later today.
 

Tokyo  - Japan's benchmark Nikkei index lost 4 per cent by the close of morning trading Thursday after Wall Street plummeted overnight and the Japanese government's machinery orders for November showed the largest decline on record.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 335.68 points to 8,102.77, and the broader Topix index of all First Section issues was also down 20.15 points, or 2.46 per cent, to 799.24.

Japan's core machinery orders posted a record monthly decline in November, the Cabinet Office said Thursday.

Sydney  - The dive on Wal

After a positive opening, the Sensex continued its positive run on account of heavy buying action seen across several large, medium and small cap stocks.

IT, metal, oil & gas and banking stocks led the rally.

Reflecting heavy buying at several side counters, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices have gained 1.73% and 1.29% respectively.

The 30-share index, BSE Sensex, today (Jan 14), opened at 9,207.52 after making a gain of 136.16 points.