Singapore shares open lower after govt extends circuit breaker; STI down 0.9%

SINGAPORE shares opened lower on Wednesday after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday announced an extension of the nation's circuit-breaker period by a month to stamp out the coronavirus.

The drop in share prices also follows losses in US equities overnight.

The Straits Times Index lost 22.89 points or 0.9 per cent to 2,529.03 as at 9.06am.

Losers outnumbered gainers 131 to 42, after 109.4 million securities worth S$107 million changed hands.

A trio of healthcare-related counters were among the most traded securities by volume in the morning. Clearbridge Health jumped 3.2 Singapore cents or 20.3 per cent to 19 cents on 11.5 million shares traded, while Healthway Medical rose 0.4 cent or 12.1 per cent to 3.7 cents after 9.7 million shares changed hands.

Cancer diagnostics company Biolidics climbed 9.5 Singapore cents or 17.8 per cent to 63 cents on 10.5 million shares traded. The company announced on Monday that it can now distribute, market and sell its Covid-19 rapid test kits in the US.

Meanwhile, SGX climbed S$0.39 or 3.9 per cent to S$10.45 after analysts said it could see a more than 30 per cent jump in its Q3 net profit.

All three local banks lost ground in early trade, as DBS fell S$0.24 or 1.3 per cent to S$18.60, OCBC lost S$0.07 or 0.8 per cent to S$8.63, while UOB decreased S$0.10 or 0.5 per cent to S$19.50.

Wall Street stocks tumbled for a second straight session on Tuesday as worries about chaos in the oil market overshadowed progress in Washington on additional relief for small businesses.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down more than 630 points or 2.7 per cent at 23,018.88. The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 3.1 per cent to 2,736.56, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index sank 3.5 per cent to 8,263.23.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks also opened lower on Wednesday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down about 1 per cent or 199.40 points at 19,081.38 in early trade, while the broader Topix index fell 0.8 per cent or 11.87 points to 1,404.02.