Singapore: Singapore shares ended the week on a lower note Friday, with the Straits Times Index (STI) dropping by 72.69 points, or 3.72 per cent, to close at 1878.51.

At mid-day, the STI was up 9.71 points to 1960.91, however, the afternoon saw selling pressure due to gloomy economic outlook despite government support for the banking sector and Singapore dollar deposits.

"We had seen first two days of gains but the index fell for the rest of the three days on continuing concern about world economic outlook," a Singapore trader said.

Singapore - Singapore's non-oil exports fell for a fifth-consecutive month in September as the city-state's customers in Europe and the United States wanted fewer of its electronics and pharmaceuticals, the government's trade-promotion agency said Friday.

Singapore registered a 5.7-per-cent drop from September 2007 after August's 14-per-cent decline, International Enterprise Singapore said.

The statistics were released after Singapore entered a recession last quarter because it was selling fewer of its products abroad.

New York - An international human rights watchdog on Friday accused the Singapore government of trying to silence critics with unfair defamation lawsuits.

Elaine Pearson, Human Rights Watch's deputy director for Asia, said the lawsuits, used against opposition politicians and critical media, make "a mockery of Singapore's claim to be a model democracy."

"Opposition criticism of the government is an essential ingredient of a democratic political system," she added, urging the wealthy city-state to stop its limitations on free political speech.

Singapore - In move to further boost confidence in the banking system, the Singapore government has moved to guarantee 150 billion Singapore dollars (101.4 US dollars) in Singapore dollar and foreign currency deposits for the next two years, media reports said Friday.

The move will back accounts of individual and non-bank customers in licensed banks, finance companies, merchant banks and cooperatives.

Singapore - Singapore's Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam assured the public Wednesday that the city state's banking system was not in trouble despite the current global financial crisis.

The city state's de facto central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, has responded to the crisis in a measured way and as such there was no need to provide guarantees for local banks, he said.

He pointed out that confidence was still high in Singapore's financial system despite the global financial problems.

Singapore - Singapore's Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam assured the public Wednesday that the city state's banking system was not in trouble despite the current global financial crisis.

The city state's de facto central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, has responded to the crisis in a measured way and as such there was no need to provide guarantees for local banks, he said.

He pointed out that confidence was still high in Singapore's financial system despite the global financial problems.