Singapore stocks fall at Monday's open; STI down 0.8%

SINGAPORE stocks fell in early trade on Monday, with investor confidence dented by a sharp drop in consumer sentiment on Wall Street.

The Straits Times Index (STI) dropped 0.8 per cent or 26.51 points to 3,138.98 as at 9.04am.

Losers outnumbered gainers 91 to 82 after 101.9 million securities worth S$93.6 million changed hands.

Thai Beverage Y92 (ThaiBev) shares were among the most actively traded securities on Monday morning, with 6.7 million shares changing hands as at 9.03am. The company on Friday evening recorded 36.6 billion baht (S$1.5 billion) in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation for the nine months ended June 2021, an 11.5 per cent increase from the year-ago period. The counter climbed 1.5 per cent or 1 Singapore cent to 67.5 cents as at 9.03 am on Monday.

Suntec Reit T82U was also among the most actively traded counters on Monday morning, with 6.6 million units traded. The counter was down 0.7 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.44.

Shares of Medi Lifestyle 5TN were also among the top five actively traded counters in terms of volume, after the company on Monday morning said two of its indirect, wholly owned subsidiaries have signed exclusive distributor agreements for the sale and distribution of Covid-19 neutralising antibodies test kits in Singapore and Malaysia. The counter was up 20.8 per cent or half a Singapore cent to 2.9 cents with three million shares traded as at 9.03am.

The trio of local banks were trading lower on Monday morning. DBS D05 was down 1.1 per cent or S$0.34 to S$30.64, UOB U11 fell 2.7 per cent or S$0.73 to S$26.17, while OCBC O39 slipped 0.8 per cent or S$0.10 to S$11.87 as at 9.03am.

In the US, the Dow Industrial and S&P 500 edged up to closing records on Friday, buoyed by a climb in Walt Disney shares.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 15.53 points or 0.04 per cent to 35,515.38, the S&P 500 gained 7.17 points or 0.2 per cent to 4,468, and the Nasdaq Composite added 6.64 points or 0.1 per cent to 14,822.90.

European shares scaled new highs on Friday on optimism over a strong earnings season and steady recovery from the pandemic-led economic downturn.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index inched up 0.99 point or 0.2 per cent to close at 475.83.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Monday as concerns over rising coronavirus cases in Japan continued to weigh on the market.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped 1.4 per cent or 380.13 points to 27,597.02 in early trade, while the broader Topix index fell 1.4 per cent or 26.76 points to 1,929.63.