Singapore stocks slip after US retreat; STI opens 1.1% lower

SINGAPORE shares fell in the first few minutes of trade on Thursday, extending the previous day's losses following another negative lead from Wall Street overnight.

The benchmark Straits Times Index retreated 28.82 points or 1.1 per cent to 2,543.19 as at 9.01am. 

Losers outnumbered gainers 118 to 25, after about 88 million securities worth S$79.2 million changed hands. 

Among index stocks, the most heavily traded by volume was Genting Singapore which was trading at 73.5 Singapore cents, down three cents or 3.9 per cent with 5.2 million shares traded, followed by Singtel which lost S$0.02 or 0.7 per cent to S$2.68 after 1.8 million shares changed hands.

Integrated resort operator Genting Singapore on Wednesday posted a 55 per cent fall in adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the first quarter this year.

Amid a sea of red, the trio of financial stocks also fell in Thursday's early trading session. DBS shed S$0.28 or 1.5 per cent to S$19, OCBC Bank declined S$0.06 or 0.7 per cent to S$8.79, while UOB fell S$0.26 or 1.3 per cent to S$19.43. 

Other active index securities included Mapletree Commercial Trust which tumbled S$0.06 or 3.2 per cent to S$1.79.

Singapore Airlines sank S$0.13 or 3.3 per cent to S$3.87. The national carrier on Wednesday described the Covid-19 pandemic as the greatest challenge ever faced by the aviation industry, and said that the industry is likely to remain highly competitive even after the crisis blows over. 

Over in the US, fears of a second wave of the novel coronavirus and downbeat comments by the head of the US Federal Reserve pushed Wall Street stocks lower on Wednesday. 

The Dow fell 2.2 per cent to close at 23,247.97, marking its third consecutive day in the red. Meanwhile, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index fell nearly 1.8 per cent to settle at 2,820 and the Nasdaq composite index slipped 1.6 per cent to finish at 8.863.17.

Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan's Topix declined 0.7 per cent, South Korea's Kospi retreated 1.1 per cent and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index edged down 0.3 per cent.