Singapore shares open lower on Monday after poor NODX showing

SINGAPORE share prices opened lower on Monday with the Straits Times Index down 3.71 points to 3,110.54 at 9.08am, following an International Enterprise Singapore report showing a slide in non-electronics shipments dragging down overall non-oil domestic exports in July.

The lower Singapore market opening was despite Japanese stocks rising after a report showed the nation's economy contracting last quarter by less than economists had forecast. According to Bloomberg, The Topix index added 0.7 per cent to 1,676.71 as at 9.33am in Tokyo.

On Friday, Wall Street stocks had steadied on solid US data after stumbling earlier in the week after China unexpectedly devalued its currency. All three indices ended with gains for the week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 104.02 points (0.60 per cent) to 17,477.40. The broad-based S&P 500 rose 13.97 (0.67 per cent) to 2,091.54, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index increased 4.70 (0.09 per cent) to 5,048.24.

Singapore Exchange's biggest losers in early trading on Monday included UOB at S$20.39 (down 19 cents or 0.9 per cent), SingTel at S$4.08 (down 14 cents or 3.3 per cent), as well as Jardine stocks - Jardine Matheson, Jardine Strategic and Jardine C&C - all down by 0.4-0.6 per cent. Noble Group, among the most active, was down 1.5 cent or 3.1 per cent to S$0.475 .

Some 106.3 million shares worth S$61.5 million changed hands, with losers outnumbering gainers 84-55.