Singapore stocks fall at Wednesday's open; STI down 0.2%

SINGAPORE stocks fell in early trade on Wednesday (Dec 15), following another negative lead from Wall Street.

The Straits Times Index (STI) dipped 0.2 per cent or 4.59 points to 3,116.50 as at 9.03 am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 80 to 56 after 59.4 million securities worth S$40.8 million changed hands.

Digital security company DiSa 532 was the most actively traded counter by volume, rising 25 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.005, with 22.1 million shares changing hands.

Food technology company Oceanus 579remained unchanged at S$0.033, with some 5.9 million shares traded, while Suntec Reit T82U slipped 0.7 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.46, with 2.7 million units changing hands.

The trio of local banks all lost ground at the open. DBS D05 edged down 0.1 per cent or S$0.02 to S$31.82, UOB U11 fell 0.1 per cent or S$0.03 to S$26.61, while OCBC O39 slipped 0.4 per cent or S$0.04 to S$11.28 as at 9.03 am.

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Other active index counters include ComfortDelGro C52, which gained 1.5 per cent or S$0.02 to S$1.40, and Singapore Airlines C6L , which lost 0.2 per cent or S$0.01 to S$4.92.

Over on Wall Street, US stocks tumbled on Tuesday (Dec 14) ahead of key decisions by the Federal Reserve and lingering worries over the latest Omicron Covid-19 variant.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.7 per cent to 4,634.09. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.1 per cent to 15,237.64 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.3 per cent to 35,544.18.

Meanwhile, European stocks fell on Tuesday as the pan-European Stoxx 600 index slipped 0.8 per cent to 469.56, marking its fifth consecutive day in the red.

Elsewhere in the region, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Wednesday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.1 per cent or 31.22 points at 28,401.42 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.1 per cent or 1.38 points at 1,975.19.