Singapore shares fall at Wednesday’s open; STI down 0.2%

SINGAPORE stocks fell in early trade on Wednesday (May 11) amid a mixed close on Wall Street.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index headed down 0.2 per cent or 4.87 points to 3,229.32 as at 9.02 am. Gainers outnumbered loserss 67 to 60, after 42.5 million securities worth S$80.1 million changed hands.

One of the most active counter by volume was Golden Agri-Resources, which stayed flat at S$0.285, with 7.2 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded securities included Mapletree Commercial Trust which fell 1.6 per cent or S$0.03 to S$1.8 with 3.5 million shares traded, as well as Hutchison Port Holdings Trust which fell 2.1 per cent or US$0.005 to US$0.23 with 2 million shares traded.

Banking stocks experienced a mixed open in early morning trade as at 9.02 am. DBS was trading down at 1.2 per cent or S$0.4 at S$32.05, UOB fell 0.2 per cent or S$0.07 to S$28.7, while OCBC rose 0.4 per cent or S$0.05 to S$11.79.

Other active index counters included Singapore Telecommunications which rose 1.1 per cent or S$0.03 to S$2.83 and Ascendas Reit which rose 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.77.

In the United States, Wall Street stocks faced another volatile day. Two of the three major indices closed in positive territory in a partial rebound from Monday’s rout and the generally downcast start of 2022, as investors have grappled with inflation, tightening monetary policy and the war in Ukraine.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.3 per cent at 32,160.74. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent to 4,001.05, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.0 per cent to 11,737.67.

Meanwhile in Europe, stocks rose from two-month lows on Tuesday, as bargain hunters returned to buy beaten-down shares following a bruising selloff on worries about a sharp slowdown in global economic growth.

SEE ALSO

Stocks to watch: SIA, Riverstone, UMS, PropNex, Centurion 

The pan- European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.7 per cent, with almost all sectors in positive territory.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo’s stocks opened lower on Wednesday after a mixed close on Wall Street, with investors awaiting Toyota’s earnings report due later in the trading day.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.60 per cent, or 158.31 points, at 26,008.79 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was off 0.54 per cent, or 10.00 points, at 1,852.38.