Singapore shares open flat even as Wall Street hits highs; STI down 0.01%

SINGAPORE stocks barely moved on Wednesday morning, despite US markets climbing to record closes overnight.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) was down 0.16 point or 0.01 per cent to 2,562.93 as at 9.20am.

Losers outnumbered gainers 88 to 72, after 243.1 million securities worth S$132.6 million were traded.

The trio of local lenders had a mixed showing in early trade. DBS rose S$0.06 or 0.3 per cent to S$20.80, United Overseas Bank dipped S$0.01 or 0.1 per cent to S$20.01, while OCBC Bank edged up S$0.02 or 0.2 per cent to S$8.87 as at 9.10am.

The most actively traded counter by value was Medtecs International, which gained S$0.01 or 0.6 per cent to S$1.84 after six million shares changed hands.

By volume, the most heavily traded were Sembcorp Marine's (Sembmarine) rights, which began trading on Wednesday. About 65.7 million rights changed hands as at 9.10am, and the counter was flat at 0.3 Singapore cent.

Shares of Sembmarine also saw active trading in early trade. The stock fell S$0.01 or 4.6 per cent to S$0.21 with 6.3 million shares changing hands.

Thai Beverage Public Co slipped 0.5 Singapore cent or 0.8 per cent to 63 cents, with 9.7 million shares traded.

In the US, the S&P 500 on Tuesday notched its first closing record since February, joining the Nasdaq in scaling historic heights and underscoring the recovery from March lows amid the coronavirus.

The broad-based S&P 500 finished with a gain of 0.2 per cent at 3,389.78, eclipsing the prior all-time high by three points. The Nasdaq jumped 0.7 per cent to end at 11,210.84, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2 per cent to 27,778.07.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo shares opened lower on Wednesday as investors searched for new incentives amid the yen's rise, US-China tensions, and stalled talks on new US stimulus.

The Nikkei 225 index lost 0.4 per cent to 22,963.84, while the broader Topix index fell 0.4 per cent to 1,605.23.