Singapore shares fall at Thursday’s open; STI down 0.7%

SINGAPORE stocks fell in early trade on Thursday (May 12), tracking overnight losses on Wall Street.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) headed down 0.7 per cent or 22.17 points to 3,203.9 as at 9.02 am. Losers outnumbered gainers 92 to 29, after 50 million securities worth S$84.5 million changed hands.

One of the most active counters by volume was Golden Agri-Resources , which stayed flat at S$0.29 with 6.9 million shares changing hands. The mainboard-listed palm oil company reported net profit of US$188 million for the first quarter ended Mar 31, 2022. 

Other heavily traded securities included Mapletree Commercial Trust, which fell 0.6 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.78 with 3.2 million shares traded, as well as Sembcorp Marine, which remained unchanged at S$0.097 with 2.6 million shares traded.

Banking stocks fell in early morning trade as at 9.02 am. DBS was trading down 1.7 per cent or S$0.53 at S$31.39, UOB was down 0.3 per cent or S$0.09 at S$28.39, while OCBC fell 0.3 per cent or S$0.03 to S$11.79.

Other active index counters included Ascendas Reit which stayed flat at S$2.75 and Singapore Telecommunications which also stayed flat at S$2.83.

In the US, Wall Street stocks closed lower on Wednesday, suffering another bruising round of losses following the latest report showing US consumer prices remain elevated.

The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 3.2 per cent to end at 11,364.24 behind big drops in Apple, Facebook-parent Meta and other tech names. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1 per cent to finish at 31,834.11, while the broad-based S&P 500 dropped 1.7 per cent to 3,935.18.

Meanwhile, European stocks locked in gains for a second straight session on Wednesday as strong earnings and a surge in economically sensitive sectors boosted sentiment after US inflation growth slowed sharply in April.

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The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 1.7 per cent, registering its biggest 1-day percentage gain since late March. Miners, automakers, and oil and gas gained more than 3 per cent each.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo’s stocks fell in early trade on Thursday amid overnight drops on Wall Street as investors fret over inflation.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 1.34 per cent, or 350.51 points, to 25,863.13 in early trade, while the broader Topix index gave up 0.79 per cent, or 14.59 points, to 1,836.56.