Singapore shares open slightly lower, extending Wall Street losses; STI down 0.1%

SINGAPORE shares struggled to advance at Wednesday’s (Sep 21) open, extending losses in US and Europe ahead of a 2-Day Federal Reserve meeting widely expected to produce a three-quarter-point interest rate hike.

On the Singapore bourse, the Straits Times Index slipped 0.1 per cent or 3.14 points to 3,263.80 as at 9.03 am. Losers outnumbered gainers 58 to 42, after 36.1 million securities worth S$55.5 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was Jiutian Chemical , which declined 1.2 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.083, with 5.2 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded securities included Yangzijiang Shipbuilding , which gained 1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.02, with 2.2 million shares traded, and ESR-Logos Reit , which was up 1.3 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.405, with 2 million shares traded.

Banking stocks were mixed in early morning trade. DBS was down 0.4 per cent or S$0.13 to S$33.53 and OCBC lost 0.2 per cent or S$0.02 to S$12.35, while UOB rose 0.2 per cent or S$0.04 to S$27.43.

Other active index counters included Singtel , which declined 0.7 per cent or S$0.02 to S$2.67, as well as CapitaLand Investment , which was trading 0.3 per cent or S$0.01 lower at S$3.65.

SEE ALSO

Stocks to watch: Parkway Life Reit, Top Glove, Marco Polo Marine, Lian Beng

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Wall Street ended Tuesday in negative territory, with the Dow declining 1 per cent to 30,706.23. The broad-based S&P 500 slid 1.1 per cent to finish at 3,855.93, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1 per cent to 11,425.05.

European shares, meanwhile, closed at 11-week lows on Tuesday, registering their sixth straight session of losses. The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended 1.1 per cent lower with nearly all major sectors in the red.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Wednesday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index sank 1 per cent to 27,426.15 in early trade, while the broader Topix index lost 0.8 per cent to 1,931.74.