Singapore shares open lower on Tuesday; STI down 0.4%

SINGAPORE stocks started Tuesday (Oct 12) on a negative note, tracking overnight Wall Street losses amid emerging concerns over oil supply.

As at 9.01am, the Straits Times Index (STI) was down 0.4 per cent or 12.56 points at 3,100.93. Gainers outnumbered losers 64 to 60 after 58.8 million securities worth S$58.7 million were traded.

Index counters Thai Beverage Y92 and Singtel Z74 were among the top five active stocks in terms of volume. The beer and liquor giant gained S$0.01 or 1.5 per cent to S$0.695 after 8.6 million shares were traded, while Singapore's largest telco dipped S$0.02 or 0.8 per cent to S$2.46 with some 4.9 million shares transacted.

Property developer Hatten Land PH0 also saw brisk trading in the morning, with the counter flat at S$0.071 as 8.3 million securities changed hands.

All three banks were in negative territory at the market open. DBS D05 shed S$0.21 or 0.7 per cent to trade at S$30.04, OCBC O39 fell S$0.04 or 0.4 per cent to S$11.57, and UOB U11 was down S$0.35 or 1.3 per cent at S$25.97 as at 9.01am.

Over in the US, major indices ended Monday (Oct 11) in the red as oil prices surged to multi-year highs on worries about whether supply was sufficient to meet revived demand.

The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7 per cent to close the day at 34,496.06. The broad-based S&P 500 also lost 0.7 per cent to end at 4,361.19, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.6 per cent to 14,486.20.

A strong rally in mining stocks boosted European equities on Monday (Oct 11), allowing them to retrace losses logged early in the session on worries about inflation and the upcoming earnings season.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index recouped losses to end higher by 0.1 per cent at 457.53. A heavy presence of commodity-related companies saw London's FTSE 100 outperform with a 0.7 per cent rise to 7,146.85.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Tuesday (Oct 12) after Wall Street slipped, as investors looked for fresh news with inflation worries continuing to weigh.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.1 per cent or 35.84 points to 28,462.36. The broader Topix index fell 0.3 per cent or 5.06 points to 1,991.52.