Singapore stocks pull back at Friday's open; STI down 0.4%

SINGAPORE shares opened lower on Friday after US equities tumbled overnight.

The Straits Times Index (STI) retreated 0.4 per cent or 11.06 points to 3,003.72 as at 9am.

Decliners outnumbered advancers 94 to 33, after 57.6 million securities worth S$41.5 million changed hands.

HGH Holdings was the most actively traded counter by volume, with 23.7 million securities worth S$0.36 million changing hands. As at 9.01am, HGH shares were trading 7.1 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent higher at 1.5 cents.

The trio of local banks were lower in early trade. UOB was down S$0.02 or 0.1 per cent at S$25.28, OCBC slipped S$0.03 or 0.3 per cent to S$11.37, while DBS tumbled S$0.36 or 1.3 per cent to trade at S$27.68.

Singapore Airlines fell nearly 1 per cent or S$0.05 to S$5.10 in early trade. It earlier announced a data breach from a cyber attack, causing the frequent flyer programme information of some 580,000 KrisFlyer and Priority Passenger Service members to be compromised.

Meanwhile, all three major Wall Street indices closed lower on Thursday after investors were disappointed by Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell's response to inflation fears. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was the biggest loser, falling 2.1 per cent to 12,723.47, off the lowest point of the session. The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 1.1 per cent to close at 30,924.14, while the broad-based S&P 500 lost 1.3 per cent to end at 3,768.47.

Following a renewed rise in US bond yields and expectations of a jump in inflation, European shares finished lower on Thursday. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index slipped 0.4 per cent, with miners dropping the most among sectors.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Friday, extending a rout on Wall Street's negative lead. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.7 per cent or 188.96 points at 28,741.15 in early trade, while the broader Topix index lost 0.4 per cent or 7.25 points to 1,877.49.