Singapore shares edge up at Wednesday’s open; STI up 0.1%

SINGAPORE stocks opened slightly higher at Wednesday’s (Jun 15) open, even as Wall Street stocks fell overnight as investors await a key Federal Reserve decision.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) headed up 0.1 per cent or 3.3 points to 3,112.19 as at 9.03 am. Gainers outnumbered losers 73 to 50, after 34.8 million securities worth S$46 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was Sembcorp Marine , which lost 0.9 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.116 with 4.4 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded securities included Frasers Hospitality Trust , which dropped 0.7 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.695 with 2.1 million shares traded, and Dyna-Mac , which tumbled 1.9 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.26 with 2.1 million shares traded.

Banking stocks were mixed in early morning trade. DBS was down 0.2 per cent or S$0.07 at S$29.75, UOB dropped 0.4 per cent or S$0.12 to S$26.97, while OCBC gained 0.4 per cent or S$0.04 to S$11.47.

Other active index counters included Singapore Airlines , which rose 0.4 per cent or S$0.02 to S$5.15, and Mapletree Logistics Trust , which advanced 1.2 per cent or S$0.02 to S$1.64.

In the US, major indices opened with modest gains, but weakened later on as investors mull the possibility of the Fed announcing a 0.75-percentage-point interest rate increase on Wednesday instead of the estimated 0.5-percentage-point rise.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.5 per cent lower at 30,364.83, the S&P 500 weakened 0.4 per cent to 3,735.48, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.2 per cent to 10,828.35.

European shares, meanwhile, continued their sell-off for a sixth straight session amid worries about aggressive US interest rate hikes and a potential recession. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index tumbled 1.3 per cent on Tuesday after sliding 2.4 per cent to over 3-month lows on Monday.

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Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Wednesday amid cautious trading. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.2 per cent to 26,587.37, while the broader Topix index dropped 0.2 per cent to 1,875.11.