Singapore shares open lower on Wednesday; STI slips by 0.09% in morning trading

SINGAPORE shares opened lower on Wednesday morning, with the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) slipping by 3.1 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 3,521.55, as at 9.01am.

But the gloom may be limited to the big boys for now.

Across the bourse, gainers outnumbered losers 85 to 40, or just over two up for every one down, with 45.9 million shares, worth S$99.6 million in all, changing hands.

Asian markets look set to get a lift from optimism over upcoming corporate earnings announcements in the region, and traders on this side of the pond continue to share in the cheer on Wall Street.

Signs of progress at landmark talks between Pyongyang and Seoul have also assuaged some of the geopolitical concerns over tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Close to home, "investor sentiment will remain positive" after a Bloomberg report that the STI had some of the highest number of constituents paying out dividends in 2017, wrote Singapore-based CMC Markets sales trader Oriano Lizza in a morning note.

Entertainment group Spackman was a busy counter on the local bourse in early trading, on a turnover of 4.21 million shares.

It ticked up 0.3 Singapore cent, or 3.03 per cent, to S$0.102.

On the STI, newcomer Venture led gains with an increase of S$0.51, or 2.36 per cent, to S$22.08.

ThaiBev was another busy bee among constituent stocks. It saw an early churn of 1.97 million shares, adding S$0.01, or 1.09 per cent, to S$0.93.