Singapore stocks open lower on Thursday; STI down 0.5%

SINGAPORE shares opened lower on Thursday (Jan 6), following overnight losses on Wall Street.

The Straits Times Index (STI) slipped 0.5 per cent or 15.83 points to 3,147.61 as at 9.01 am.

Losers outnumbered gainers 96 to 34, after 113 million securities worth S$62.2 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was Asia Pacific Strategic Investments 5RA , which opened flat at S$0.002, with 43.7 million shares changing hands as at 9.02 am.

Other heavily traded securities include index counter Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT) N2IU , which gained 0.5 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.85, with 3.4 million units traded. Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust (MNACT) RW0U opened flat at S$1.09, with 2.3 million units changing hands. This comes after the outlook on all MCT's ratings were changed from "stable" to "rating under review", while that of MNACT was changed from "negative" to "rating under review", ahead of a planner merger between both real estate investment trusts (Reits).

Index counter Thai Beverage Y92 was among the most actively traded securities on Thursday morning, with about 2.3 million shares traded. The counter opened at S$0.67, down S$0.005 or 0.7 per cent.

Banking stocks were a sea of red in early trade. DBS D05 was down 0.8 per cent or S$0.25 to S$32.99, UOB U11 slipped 0.4 per cent or S$0.10 at S$27.39, while OCBC O39 fell 0.6 per cent or S$0.07 to S$11.51 as at 9.02 am.

In the US, Wall Street sold off sharply on Wednesday (Jan 6) after the Federal Reserve released meeting minutes indicating officials were ready to hike rates sooner than expected next year as inflation spikes.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was the biggest loser, dropping 3.3 percent to close at 15,100.17.

The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.1 per cent to finish at 36,407.11, while the broad-based S&P 500 fell 1.9 per cent to 4,700.58.

Meanwhile, European shares were driven to new highs on Wednesday, even as a new year rally appeared to be running out of gas due to concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic and slowing growth.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.1 per cent to 494.35 points, its third consecutive record closing high.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Thursday after 2 days of rallies, with investors disheartened by falls on Wall Street.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.7 per cent or 192.08 points at 29.140.08 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.5 per cent or 10.44 points to 2,028.83.