Singapore shares open lower on Thursday; STI down 0.12%

SINGAPORE shares opened lower on Thursday following mixed sentiments in US markets overnight, with Singapore's Straits Times Index losing 3.98 points or 0.12 per cent to 3,205.56 as at 9.05am.

However, gainers beat losers 61 to 56 in a mixed morning for the Singapore bourse, after about 72.5 million securities worth S$82.4 million changed hands.

TEE International was the most traded counter by volume, rising S$0.002 or 3.5 per cent to S$0.059 after 13.05 million shares were traded.

Addvalue Technologies was similarly active, jumping S$0.003 or 9.4 per cent to S$0.035 after 13.03 million shares changed hands.

Active index stock Singtel dropped S$0.04 or 1.2 per cent to S$3.27 after 4.3 million shares were traded.

It was a mixed bag among financials, with DBS advancing S$0.06 or 0.2 per cent to S$25.87 and OCBC up S$0.02 or 0.2 per cent to S$10.98. However, UOB slipped S$0.03 or 0.1 per cent to S$26.55.

Wall Street's recent rally showed signs of fatigue as FedEx shares dived on disappointing earnings.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 27.88 points or 0.1 per cent to 28,239.28, the S&P 500 lost 1.38 points or 0.04 per cent to 3,191.14 and the Nasdaq Composite added 4.38 points or 0.05 per cent to 8,827.74.

In Europe, shares inched lower on worries over a potentially hard Brexit, while gains in defensive sectors capped losses.

The main Stoxx 600 index finished 0.13 per cent lower.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower with investors awaiting the result of the Bank of Japan policy meeting later in the day.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.12 per cent or 29.84 points to 23,904.59 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was down 0.09 per cent or 1.52 points at 1,736.88.