Singapore shares open lower on Thursday; STI down 0.4%

SINGAPORE stocks opened lower on Thursday, with the Straits Times Index dropping 0.4 per cent, or 13.7 points to 3,502.53 as at 9.02am.

This came as US stocks ended lower overnight after the Fed minutes revived worries about higher interest rates.

On the Singapore bourse, about 75.8 million shares worth S$235.4 million changed hands. Losers outnumbered gainers 96 to 44.

The most actively traded counters were Thai Beverage, which rose 0.6 per cent, or 0.5 Singapore cent to S$0.84 with 16.8 million shares traded; and Sembcorp Marine which fell 5.3 per cent, or 14 Singapore cents to S$2.49 with 3.5 million shares traded.

Other active index stocks included DBS which fell 0.5 per cent, or 16 Singapore cents to S$29.29; and Singtel which dropped 0.9 per cent, or three Singapore cents to S$3.34.