Singapore stocks dip slightly at Friday's open; STI down 0.04%

SINGAPORE stocks stabilised in early trade on Friday after banks had rallied on Thursday following the lifting of dividend restrictions.

The Straits Times Index (STI) dipped just 0.04 per cent or 1.43 points to 3,179.18 as at 9.01am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 79 to 44 after 43.1 million securities worth S$64.7 million changed hands.

RH PetroGas T13 was the most traded security on Friday morning, with 4.2 million shares changing hands in the first minute of trade. Its share price was up 0.6 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to 18.3 cents.

Other counters that saw significant trading were those that reported earnings, such as Sembcorp Marine S51, which edged up 0.9 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to 10.9 cents after 2.9 million shares changed hands, as well as Sheng Siong OV8 , which remained flat at S$1.56 after 1.6 million shares worth S$2.6 million changed hands.

Among index counters, Singtel Z74 saw high trading activity on Friday morning, edging up S$0.01 or 0.4 per cent to S$2.29 after two million securities worth S$4.6 million were traded.

On the back of its earnings announcement, Keppel Corp BN4 shares saw a jump of more than 2 per cent or S$0.11 to S$5.50 per share, after 1.1 million shares worth S$6.1 million changed hands in the first minute of trade.

Turning to the trio of local banks, only DBS D05 saw upward movement in its share price, up 0.6 per cent or S$0.18 to S$30.68 after 556,000 shares worth S$17 million were traded in the first minute. UOB U11 slid 0.2 per cent or S$0.05 to S$26.23, while OCBC slipped O39 0.2 per cent or S$0.02 to S$12.30.

In the US, Wall Street stocks advanced on Thursday following solid US growth data and earnings, but Facebook dropped on disappointment over its outlook and Robinhood sank in its Nasdaq debut.

The US economy returned to its pre-pandemic level in the second quarter, but the 6.5 per cent annualised rate of expansion, while good, was slower than expected.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 35,084.53, up 0.4 per cent. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.4 per cent to 4,419.15 while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.1 per cent to 14,778.26.

European stocks hit all-time highs on Thursday after strong earnings from commodity majors, Airbus and a clutch of other companies, while data showing record high eurozone economic sentiment in July added to the positive mood.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.5 per cent to a closing high of 460.57 points.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Friday in cautious trade, with investors watching corporate earnings and surging coronavirus cases in Japan.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.6 per cent or 161.4 points at 27,621.02 in early trade, while the broader Topix index lost 0.3 per cent or 5.88 points to 1,921.55.