Singapore shares open lower on Monday; STI down 0.1%

SINGAPORE stocks fell in early trade on Monday (Jun 6) morning after global markets ended the week in the red. 

The Straits Times Index (STI) fell 0.1 per cent or 2.26 points to 3,229.71 as at 9.01 am. Gainers outnumbered losers 76 to 55 after 67.8 million securities worth S$29.9 million changed hands.

Marco Polo Marine was the top traded counter by volume, rising 3 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.034 with some 10.5 million shares traded in the morning. 

Other heavily traded securities included Sembcorp Marine which rose 0.9 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.116 with 8.6 million shares traded, as well as Mun Siong Engineering which gained 3.6 per cent or S$0.002 to S$0.057 with 4.3 million shares traded.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding also saw brisk trading with 1.2 million securities changing hands at the open. The index counter rose 1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$0.985. 

The trio of local banks were down in early morning trade as at 9.01 am. DBS was down 0.1 per cent or S$0.04 at S$30.96, UOB was 0.2 per cent or S$0.05 lower at S$28.87, while OCBC shed 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$11.85. 

In the US, equities closed another week in the red amid the ever-present concerns about inflation and a potential recession.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1 per cent to finish Friday’s session at 32,898.91. The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 1.6 per cent to 32,898.91, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index sank 2.5 per cent to 12,012.73.

Similarly, European shares fell on Friday, wiping out earlier gains after US jobs data supported the case for the Federal Reserve’s aggressive policy tightening and investors raised their bets on European Central Bank rate hikes following strong inflation numbers this week.

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The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 0.3 per cent to 440.09, with volumes expected to be subdued due to holidays in Britain and China. 

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Monday after US shares fell last week as investors locked in profits.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.5 per cent or 142.41 points to 27,619.16 in early trade, while the broader Topix index gave up 0.4 per cent or 7.2 points to 1,925.92.