Singapore stocks open lower on Friday; STI down 0.6%

SINGAPORE shares opened lower on Friday, tracking losses on Wall Street. The Straits Times Index (STI) fell 0.6 per cent or 20.01 points to 3,089.41 as at 9.03am.

Losers outnumbered gainers 87 to 70, with 57.1 million securities worth S$106.4 million changing hands.

The most active counter by volume was ComfortDelGro, with 6.8 million shares worth S$11.3 million traded as at 9.03am. Its shares were up S$0.05 or 3.1 per cent at S$1.65. The mainboard-listed transport operator on Friday said its joint venture has been awarded an eight-year contract worth S$1.13 billion to operate rail services in Auckland, New Zealand.

Among index stocks, Singtel and Ascendas Reit were also actively traded in the morning. The telco saw 3.9 million shares worth S$9.3 million changing hands, and was down S$0.01 or 0.4 per cent at S$2.37. Meanwhile, the real estate investment trust (Reit) saw 1.4 million units worth S$4.4 million traded, slipping S$0.01 or 0.3 per cent to S$3.07.

Banking stocks were down in early trade. DBS fell S$0.41 or 1.3 per cent to S$30.09, UOB lost S$0.26 or 1 per cent to S$25.75, while OCBC was down S$0.03 or 0.3 per cent at S$11.62.

In the US, Wall Street closed lower on Thursday, ending a streak of all-time closing highs on concerns over developments in Afghanistan, while fears of a potential shift in Federal Reserve monetary policy prompted a broad but shallow sell-off the day before the Jackson Hole Symposium.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 192.38 points or 0.5 per cent to 35,213.12, the broad-based S&P 500 lost 26.27 points or 0.6 per cent to 4,469.92, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite dropped 96.05 points or 0.6 per cent to 14,945.81.

European shares also ended lower on Thursday, after data showed faltering German consumer morale amid rising Covid-19 cases, while investors mulled over potential US monetary policy movements ahead of the Jackson Hole meeting. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 0.3 per cent, with mining as well as travel and leisure stocks leading the losses.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Friday as investors awaited an address by Fed chair Jerome Powell that could yield clues about the scaling back of the central bank's stimulus programme. The Nikkei 225 index fell 0.7 per cent or 202.23 points to 27,540.06 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.4 per cent or 7.90 points to 1,927.45.