Singapore stocks fall at Wednesday's open; STI down 0.1%

SINGAPORE shares fell in early trade on Wednesday (Dec 8) even as worries somewhat eased over the Omicron coronavirus variant.

The Straits Times Index (STI) moved down 0.1 per cent or 3.62 points to 3,131.04 as at 9.05 am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 98 to 43, after 89.8 million securities worth S$88.7 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was furniture company Sitra Holdings (International) 5LE , which gained S$0.004 or 26.7 per cent to S$0.019 after 14.2 million shares were traded.

Property developer Hatten Land PH0 was also actively traded at the open, opening higher at S$0.048, up S$0.001 or 2.1 per cent, with 9.8 million shares changing hands.

Index counter CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust C38U was among the most actively traded securities on Wednesday morning, with 9.1 million shares traded. The counter opened lower at S$2.02, down 1.5 per ent or S$0.03.

The trio of local banks were mixed at the open.

As at 9.04 am, DBS D05 was down S$0.15 or 0.5 per cent to trade at S$31.91, while UOB U11 was up S$0.05 or 0.2 per cent to trade at S$26.76. OCBC O39 gained S$0.04 or 0.4 per cent to S$11.46.

Over on Wall Street, US stocks rallied for a second straight session on Tuesday (Dec 7) as investors cheered early indications that the latest Covid-19 variant may be less severe than earlier rounds.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index, which lagged other major indices on Monday, led with a 3 per cent jump to 15,686.92. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.4 per cent to 35,719.43, while the broad-based S&P 500 gained 2.1 per cent to 4,686.75.

Meanwhile, European stocks jumped 2.5 per cent on Dec 7, boosted by a strong rebound in technology shares.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed at 480.18 and logged its best session since last November, bouncing back to levels before worries emerged about the new virus variant.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Wednesday (Dec 8) after Wall Street shares rallied for a second straight session.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 1.2 per cent or 342.13 points at 28,797.73 in early trade, while the broader Topix index gained 0.8 per cent or 16.02 points to 2,005.87.