Singapore stocks open lower on Thursday; STI down 0.2%

SINGAPORE shares fell on Thursday (Apr 20) morning after global markets closed mostly flat or lower overnight.

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) fell 0.2 per cent or 5.49 points to 3,318.56.

Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 52 to 36 after 19.2 million securities worth S$36.6 million changed hands.

Sembcorp Marine was the top traded counter by volume, rising 0.9 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.119 with 8.4 million shares traded.

Other heavily traded securities included index counter Singtel, which was down 1.2 per cent or S$0.03 to S$2.51 at the open.

Nanofilm Technologies fell 9.1 per cent or S$0.15 to S$1.50 after the mainboard-listed company on Wednesday announced a 40 per cent fall in revenue for the first fiscal quarter.

The trio of local banks were trading mixed. DBS rose S$0.03 or 0.1 per cent to S$32.98, while OCBC fell S$0.01 or 0.1 per cent to S$12.88. UOB inched down S$0.08 or 0.3 per cent to S$30.02.

Major US indices closed mostly flat on Wednesday following another day of mixed company results.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2 per cent at 33,897.34, while the broad-based S&P 500 was almost unchanged at 4,154.54. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was also relatively flat at 12,157.23.

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Over in Europe, shares ended marginally lower on Wednesday as technology stocks led the fall, while a rise in shares of insurers limited overall declines.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 0.1 per cent to 468.13, which remained around the index’s 14-month highs.