Singapore shares open lower on Friday; STI down 0.75%

SINGAPORE shares pulled back at Friday's open despite rallies on Wall Street and Europe overnight. The Straits Times Index lost 0.75 per cent or 24.25 points to 3,207.30 as at 9.05am on Friday.

Losers outnumbered gainers 97 to 55, after about 80.8 million securities worth S$77.7 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded were Medtecs International, which rose one Singapore cent or 13.2 per cent to S$0.086 with 19.7 million shares traded, and DISA which fell 0.1 cent or 50 per cent to S$0.001 with 3.1 million shares traded as at 9.06am. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding fell 1.5 Singapore cents or 1.5 per cent to S$0.995, with 2.7 million shares traded.

Banking stocks started the morning trade in a sea of red. As at 9.06am, DBS fell 18 Singapore cents or 0.7 per cent to S$25.52, UOB lost 23 Singapore cents or 0.9 per cent to S$26.10 and OCBC Bank dropped eight Singapore cents or 0.7 per cent to S$10.99.

Other active index securities included Sembcorp Industries which fell nine Singapore cents or 4.2 per cent to S$2.07 as at 9.06am. The conglomerate on Thursday issued a profit guidance for its financial results for the fourth quarter ended last December and the fiscal year, flagging an impairment of S$245 million.

Meanwhile, City Developments Limited was trading 13 Singapore cents or 1.2 per cent higher at S$11.13, as at 9.06am.

Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific, Tokyo opened the morning slightly higher following gains on Wall Street and waning investor concern over the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, was up more than 2 per cent on Thursday to 23,887.38 in early trade. The broader Topix index edged up 0.09 per cent to 1,738.54.

In the US, Wall Street stocks finished at fresh records on Thursday, with all three major indices ending at all-time highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.3 per cent to 29,379.77, while the S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent to finish at 3,345.78. The Nasdaq Composite Index meanwhile, jumped 0.7 per cent to 9,572.15.

European shares also closed higher amid a broader rally in global stocks prompted by China's move to halve additional tariffs on some US goods. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed up 0.4 per cent at 425.49 - an all-time high - but retreated slightly from the 426.70 hit earlier in the session.