Singapore stocks fall at Monday's open; STI down 0.3%

SINGAPORE shares started the week lower on Monday (Mar 7), extending losses on Wall Street and as Singapore detailed its sanctions on Russia amid the invasion of Ukraine.

The Straits Times Index (STI) fell 0.3 per cent or 8.23 points to 3,218.55 as at 9.03 am. Losers outnumbered gainers 106 to 62, after 151.1 million securities worth S$97 million changed hands.

The most actively traded counter by volume was Sembcorp Marine S51 , which saw 32.5 million shares worth S$3.1 million traded in the morning. Its shares gained S$0.004 or 4.4 per cent to S$0.095.

Rex International 5WH was also actively traded, with 13.7 million shares worth S$6.3 million changing hands. The counter was up S$0.025 or 5.8 per cent at S$0.46.

Among index stocks, Singapore Airlines C6L saw brisk trading, with 556,000 shares worth S$2.8 million changing hands. Its shares were down S$0.05 or 1 per cent at S$5.

The trio of local banks were down in early trade. DBS D05 lost S$0.17 or 0.5 per cent to S$32.43, UOB U11 fell S$0.17 or 0.6 per cent to S$29.36, while OCBC O39 was down S$0.07 or 0.6 per cent to S$11.55.

In the US, Wall Street stocks fell on Friday as an increasingly grim picture of the Russia invasion of Ukraine took attention away from good US employment data.

All three major indices finished the week with losses, with the broad-based S&P 500 ending down 0.8 per cent for the day at 4,328.87, the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing 0.5 per cent Friday to finish at 33,614.80, and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropping 1.7 per cent to 13,313.44.

Meanwhile, European stocks sank to near one-year lows on Friday, as auto and bank stocks took a battering on reports of a nuclear power plant on fire amid fierce fighting between Ukraine and Russian troops.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 3.6 per cent. It lost 7 per cent this week - its worst such fall since the pandemic-fuelled selloff in March 2020.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo shares opened lower on Monday as attacks on Ukraine intensified while nations and businesses imposed more sanctions against Russia.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped 2 per cent or 528.23 points to 25,457.24 in early trade, while the broader Topix index fell 1.7 per cent or 31.83 points to 1,813.11.