Singapore shares fall at Tuesday’s open; STI down 0.9%

SINGAPORE stocks fell in early trade on Tuesday (May 10), tracking overnight losses on Wall Street.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) headed down 0.9 per cent or 30.4 points to 3,244.67 as at 9.02 am. Losers outnumbered gainers 147 to 20, after 98 million securities worth S$113.8 million changed hands.

One of the most active counters by volume was Oceanus Group, which fell 5.9 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.016, with 8.6 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded securities included Golden Agri-Resources, which fell 1.6 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.30 with 8.6 million shares traded, as well as Sembcorp Marine, which stayed flat at S$0.096 with 5.5 million shares traded.

Banking stocks fell in early morning trade as at 9.02 am. DBS was trading down 1.3 per cent or S$0.42 at S$32.48, UOB fell 1 per cent or S$0.29 to S$28.96, while OCBC slid 0.8 per cent or S$0.10 to S$11.78.

Other active index counters included Mapletree Industrial Trust, which fell 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.49, and Singapore Airlines, which dropped 1.3 per cent or S$0.07 to S$5.25.

In the US, Wall Street stocks endured another battering Monday amid worries over inflation, rising interest rates and a slowing economy, with all 3 major indices pummeled in another ugly trading session.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2 per cent, or more than 650 points, to end the day at 32,245.70. The broad-based S&P 500 slid 3.2 per cent to 3,991.24, its first close under 4,000 points since March 2021, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was the biggest loser, dropping 4.3 per cent to finish at 11,623.25.

Meanwhile, European stocks hit 2-month lows on Monday, led by sectors including travel and leisure and technology as a mix of worries over prolonged Covid-19 curbs in China and surging bond yields fuelled selling pressure.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index shed 2.9 per cent to touch its lowest since Mar 8, with travel and leisure stocks falling 6 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo’s stocks opened lower on Tuesday, tracking another rout on Wall Street amid concerns over the impact of rising US interest rates and surging inflation.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.69 per cent, or 181.59 points, at 26,137.75 in early trade, while the broader Topix index dropped 0.91 per cent, or 17.18 points, to 1,861.21.