Singapore stocks open lower on Thursday; STI down 0.3%

SINGAPORE stocks opened Thursday (Oct 27) lower, in line with Wall Street’s overnight decline to snap a three-day winning streak. 

The Straits Times Index (STI) shed 0.3 per cent or 9.25 points to 2,999.13 as at 9.01 am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 58 to 42 after 52.6 million securities worth S$41.9 million changed hands.

Sembcorp Marine was the top traded counter of the morning in terms of volume, remaining flat at S$0.12 after 25.2 million securities were traded at the open.

Index stock Yangzijiang Shipbuilding gained S$0.04 or 3.3 per cent to S$1.26 after 3.5 million of its shares changed hands, while Singapore Medical Group edged up S$0.005 or 1.4 per cent to S$0.365 on active trading. 

CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust , another index stock, also saw brisk trading with 1.6 million of its shares traded. The counter was up S$0.01 or 0.5 per cent at S$1.91.

The trio of banks were trading mixed on Thursday morning. DBS was down S$0.05 or 0.2 per cent at S$32.58, while OCBC was also trading S$0.01 or 0.1 per cent lower at S$11.73. UOB added S$0.01 or 0.04 per cent to S$26.09.

Wall Street indices ended mostly lower on Wednesday in the wake of disappointing earnings reports. This comes after US stocks rallied over the last three days on greater confidence that the Federal Reserve will soon pivot from its policy of aggressive interest rate hikes to counter inflation.

The tech-rich Nasdaq tumbled 2 per cent to 10,970.99, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to finish flat at 31,839.11 on hopes for a moderation in monetary policy. The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.7 per cent to 3,830.60.

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European shares reversed early losses on Wednesday to hit a five-week high after a smaller-than-expected interest rate hike by the Bank of Canada, which ignited hopes that major central banks could temper rate-hike stance

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index ended up 0.7 per cent at 410.31 – its strongest level since Sep 20.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo shares opened Thursday lower to echo the Nasdaq’s losses. 

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.1 per cent or 32.04 points to 27,399.80 at the open, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.1 per cent or 2.72 points to 1,915.49.