Investors shed their shares Friday from the opening bell at the Singapore Exchange for fears of the global downturn's impact on corporate performances and the fate of developing economies.

The Straits Times Index crashed to 1591.48 points towards the closing bell but made a slight flip to close at 1600.28, down by a huge 145.39, or 8.33 per cent.

The STI has lost 278 points this week, having settled at 1878.51 at last Friday's close. The Singapore Exchange ended the day with 513 counters suffering losses and just
90 gainers. Trading volume totaled 1,208.5 million shares.

Investors are shifting attention from the government-initiated cash supports for the ailing economies to corporate performances in the upcoming quarters as well as the fate of developing economies, said Song Seng Wun, regional economist at the CIMB GK Research Pte Ltd in Singapore.

Investors who have got out of the stock markets were now going for safer investments in gold and quality bonds or holding cash, he said.

Overall, traders and analysts said they expected to see the gloomy economic outlook to keep pressuring share prices down in the coming week.