Singapore stocks fall in early trade on Friday; STI down 0.1%

SINGAPORE stocks fell in early trade on Friday (Sep 30) to mirror plunges across global markets.

The Straits Times Index dipped 0.1 per cent or 4.45 points to 3110.63 as at 9.01 am. Losers outnumbered gainers 68 to 34 after 27.9 million securities worth S$42.7 million changed hands.

Shares of Sembcorp Marine were the most actively traded on Friday morning in terms of volume, with 5.2 million shares changing hands as at 9.01 am. The counter fell 0.1 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.103.

Among index stocks, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (CICT) was the top gainer on Friday morning, rising 1.1 per cent or S$0.02 to S$1.90. Singtel and Thai Beverage PCL were actively traded as well, falling S$0.01 or 0.4 per cent to S$2.66, and declining S$0.005 or 0.8 per cent to S$0.615 respectively.

The trio of banks saw mixed fortunes. DBS was up 0.1 per cent or S$0.02 to S$32.95, and OCBC also rose 0.5 per cent or S$0.06 to S$11.77. Meanwhile, UOB slipped 0.04 per cent or S$0.01 to S$26.12.

In the US, Wall Street stocks plummeted on Thursday as bond yields resumed their upward climb on a bruising day for shares of Apple and other tech giants. The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 2.1 per cent to 3,640.47, its lowest close since November 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.5 per cent at 29,225.61, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 2.8 per cent to 10,737.51.

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European shares also fell on Thursday as relief from the Bank of England’s bond buy-back plan to soothe distressed markets fizzled out. The continent-wide Stoxx 600 index dropped 1.7 per cent with a slew of retailers in the region warning about the impact of a cost-of-living crisis on their business.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Friday, extending falls on Wall Street where higher US Treasury yields, inflation and rising recession fears returned. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.6 per cent, or 153.51 points, at 26,268.54 in early trade, while the broader Topix index dropped 0.4 per cent, or 8.04 points, to 1,860.76.