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

SINGAPORE shares fell at Tuesday's (Oct 26) open, with the Straits Times Index (STI) shedding 0.3 per cent or 8.92 points at 3,192.94 as at 9.03 am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 80 to 59, after 84.4 million securities worth S$64.6 million changed hands.

The most actively traded counter by volume was Sinjia Land 5HH , which saw 8.1 million of its shares worth S$840,000 traded as at 9.03 am. Its shares were up S$0.004 or 4 per cent to S$0.104.

Keppel Reit K71U was also actively traded, with 2.7 million of its units worth S$2.9 million changing hands. Its units were flat at S$1.08.

In its Q3 business update on Tuesday (Oct 26), the manager reported that its distributable income from operations for the first 9 months of 2021 was up by 20.8 per cent year on year at S$159.9 million.

Among index stocks, Keppel Corporation BN4 and Mapletree Logistics Trust M44U saw brisk trading.

Keppel had 742,100 shares worth S$4 million traded, and its shares were down S$0.10 or 1.8 per cent at S$5.38.

The conglomerate disclosed in an announcement after trading on Monday (Oct 25) that its offshore and marine subsidiary, Keppel Offshore & Marine is being sued in the US over a loss of an investment and interest of US$819.85 million.

Mapletree Logistics Trust had 2.6 million units worth S$5.2 million traded, and its units were up S$0.02 or 1 per cent at S$2.01.

The trust reported that distribution per unit for Q2 FY21/22 grew 5.7 per cent to S$0.02173 in a bourse filing after market close on Monday (Oct 25).

The trio of local banks were down in early trade. DBS D05 lost S$0.07 or 0.2 per cent to S$31.42, UOB U11 fell S$0.32 or 1.2 per cent to S$26.56, while OCBC O39 was down S$0.04 or 0.3 per cent at S$11.95.

In the US, stock markets struck fresh records on Monday (Oct 25) as investors awaited earnings results from tech firms and cheered the latest Tesla surge while European traders looked ahead to an European Central Bank rate decision and the UK budget later in the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 64.13 points or 0.2 per cent to 35,741.15, the S&P 500 gained 21.58 points or 0.5 per cent to 4,566.48, while the Nasdaq Composite added 136.51 points or 0.9 per cent to 15,226.71.

Meanwhile, European stocks closed flat on Monday (Oct 25), as gains in banks and commodity-linked sectors were offset by losses in industrial stocks on rising bond yields, and as the outlook for the telecom sector deteriorated.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed largely unchanged at 472.21 points, with concerns over rising inflation and slowing economic growth also weighing on sentiment.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Tuesday (Oct 26), boosted by gains in US shares that hit record highs as Tesla topped US$1 trillion in value.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 1.1 per cent or 312.84 points to 28,913.25 in early trade, while the broader Topix index rose 0.8 per cent or 15.27 points to 2,010.69.