SINGAPORE may be buzzing amid the arrival of top global leaders for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit but nothing, it seems, can stir the local stock market - and others around the region - from a decidedly lacklustre patch.

Blue-chip stocks around the region stayed trapped within a tight trading range throughout the trading session yesterday.

Even the ailing greenback's renewed weakness against other regional currencies - after China acknowledged the case for a stronger yuan - failed to lure traders back into a buying spree.

Instead, buyers stayed firmly on the sidelines, while sellers took a wait-and- see attitude, reluctant to make any move that might trigger a big sell-off and cause share prices to fall sharply.

The pull-back in US stock futures also contributed to the cautious investor sentiment around Asia.

In Singapore, the Straits Times Index lost 14.19 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 2,726.24 - a day after hitting its highest level in 15 months. Tokyo's Nikkei-225 Average fell 0.68 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 1 per cent.

For many traders, though, the big concern was the dwindling of trading activity as trading in penny stocks dried up altogether. Yesterday's overall market volume at home of 1.29 billion shares worth $1.47 billion was almost one-third smaller than last month's daily average volume of 1.77 billion shares worth $1.52 billion.

'The market is a big yawn. There is no joy watching the index flirting with 2009 high levels, if there is nothing much for us to do,' one dealer said.

Instead, trading had shifted to the banks and the blue chips, as they attracted light buying interest from foreign funds which might have exposure to US dollar carry trades.

In participating in such a trade, these funds had borrowed massively in the greenback to buy regional equities, betting that they would profit from any further drop in the value of the US dollar and a rise in the shares they had bought.

Still, despite the cautious market sentiment, some local counters managed to attract buying interest.

Shipbuilder Yangzijiang jumped six cents to $1.05 on a volume of 78 million shares, after it was added to the MSCI Singapore Index.

The 10-day non-stop run-up in the Baltic Dry Index, which tracks the freight costs for commodities, gave a boost to shipping counters.

Cosco Corp, which owns bulk carriers, rose three cents to $1.11, with 18.1 million shares traded, while South Korean bulk carrier operator STX Pan Ocean jumped 56 cents to $13.88 before being halted from trading in the afternoon.

But plantations giant Wilmar International fell 13 cents to $6.47, following disappointment that it was shelving the spin-off of its China operations as a separate listed firm, until sentiment improved.

Contract manufacturer Venture Corp fell 41 cents to $8.90, after third-quarter profits fell 4.7 per cent to $38.2 million.

The quiet trading conditions also took its toll on the Singapore Exchange, with the counter dropping 19 cents to $7.97.

engyeow@sph.com.sg