Singapore shares open lower on Friday; STI down 0.3%

SINGAPORE stocks opened lower on Friday (Sep 2), inverse to global market gains. 

The Straits Times Index (STI) was down 0.3 per cent or 9.95 points to 3,214.13 as at 9.01 am. Gainers outweighed losers 62 to 59 after 39.2 million securities worth S$52.5 million changed hands.

Sembcorp Marine was the most actively traded counter in the morning with 8.4 million shares transacted. The counter was down 0.9 per cent or S$0.001 at S$0.115. Among index counters, Singtel traded 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 lower at S$2.62 after 1.6 million shares changed hands.

The trio of local banks traded lower at Friday’s open. DBS was down 0.7 per cent or S$0.22 at S$32.33, UOB lost 0.2 per cent or S$0.06 to S$27.12, while OCBC fell 0.3 per cent or S$0.03 to S$12.08. 

Over in the US, the Dow and S&P 500 snapped a 4-day losing streak on Thursday ahead of jobs data expected to strengthen the Federal Reserve’s commitment to monetary tightening. Stocks were in the red most of the trading day, but rallied in the final hour in an apparent round of bargain hunting.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 0.5 per cent at 31,656.42. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent to 3,966.85, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.3 per cent to 11,785.13.

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European stocks got September off to a weak start on Thursday, falling to 7-week lows on deepening worries about economic growth, aggressive interest rate hikes and record-high inflation.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell 1.8 per cent as all sectors traded lower, with the index clocking its fifth straight day in the red.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Friday in cautious trade ahead of US jobs data due later in the day. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.25 per cent or 69.78 points at 27,731.25 in early trade, while the broader Topix index edged up 0.1 per cent or 2.03 points to 1,937.52.