Singapore shares open Thursday lower after Wall Street slump; STI down 0.4%

SINGAPORE shares sank on Thursday (Sep 22) morning to track overnight losses on Wall Street, following the US Federal Reserve’s announcement of its third straight massive interest rate hike.

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index shed 11.27 points or 0.4 per cent to 3,250.52. Decliners outnumbered advancers 89 to 35 after 39.3 million securities worth S$61.6 million changed hands.

Index counter Mapletree Logistics Trust was the most actively traded counter in terms of volume, unchanged at S$1.66 with 2.6 million of its units traded at the open.

Shares of Jiutian Chemical and Hatten Land fell S$0.001 each, representing a 1.2 per cent and 3.2 per cent decline to S$0.082 and S$0.03 amid heavy trading with 2.3 million and 1.3 million securities changing hands, respectively. 

The trio of local banks were all in the red at the open. UOB dipped S$0.17 or 0.6 per cent to S$27.51, DBS lost S$0.10 or 0.3 per cent to trade at S$33.43, and OCBC declined S$0.03 or 0.2 per cent to S$12.32. 

Wall Street stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve enacted another 3-quarter point interest rate hike and signaled more monetary tightening ahead as it combats inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 1.7 per cent at 30,183.78. The broad-based S&P 500 also shed 1.7 per cent to 3,789.93, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 1.8 per cent to 11,220.19.

Prior to the Fed’s rate hike announcement European shares had ended Wednesday higher, shrugging off Russia’s announcement of a partial military mobilisation.

The continent-wide Stoxx 600 index bounced back to end 0.9 per cent higher after hitting its lowest level since early July earlier in the day.

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Singapore stocks finish lower as Fed rate hike looms; STI down 0.2%

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo shares opened Thursday lower to extend falls in the US, with a focus shifting to the Japanese central bank’s meeting. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.9 per cent or 237.33 points at 27,075.80 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.8 per cent or 14.94 points to 1,905.86.