Singapore stocks open slightly lower on Tuesday; STI down 0.1%

SINGAPORE shares opened slightly weaker on Tuesday after a doubling of Covid-19 cases within the week was reported on Monday. US markets were also closed for a public holiday.

The government is urging Singaporeans to scale back their non-essential social interactions, said Finance Minister Lawrence Wong yesterday evening. He is the co-chair of the Covid-19 multi-ministry taskforce.

The Straits Times Index (STI) slipped 0.1 per cent or 2.53 points to 3,098.55 as at 9.03am. Gainers outnumbered losers 77 to 49, after 137.1 million securities worth S$45.2 million changed hands.

One of the most active counters by volume was Sembcorp Marine S51 , which fell 1.2 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to 8.6 cents, with 18.8 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded securities include Genting Singapore G13, which was down 1.3 per cent or one Singapore cent to 77.5 cents, with 6.8 million shares traded, as well as Mercurius 5RF , which dropped 2.8 per cent or 0.2 Singapore cent to 6.9 cents, with 3.6 million shares traded.

Banking stocks declined in early trade. DBS D05 fell 0.4 per cent or S$0.11 to S$30.28, UOB U11 lost 0.4 per cent or S$0.10 to S$25.72, while OCBC O39 dropped 0.2 per cent or S$0.02 to S$11.68.

Other active index counters include Singtel Z74, which eased 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.37, and Hongkong Land H78 , which climbed 8.1 per cent or US$0.34 to US$4.54.

Wall Street was closed for the Labour Day holiday. In Europe, shares ended Monday near record levels, bolstered by technology stocks. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.7 per cent to 475.19, just below its all-time high of 476.16 hit on Aug 13.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Tuesday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index advanced 0.6 per cent to 29,843.09 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.7 per cent at 2,054.86.