Singapore stocks slip at Friday's open; STI down 0.1%

SINGAPORE shares opened slightly lower on Friday, although some counters witnessed significant upward movement on the back of better-than-expected earnings.

The Straits Times Index (STI) declined 0.1 per cent or 4.25 points to 3,170.85 as at 9.03am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 96 to 58, after 67.1 million securities worth S$64.3 million changed hands.

Index counter Yangzijiang Shipbuilding BS6 was the second-most heavily traded stock on Friday morning following its earnings report out on Thursday night, with eight million shares worth S$11.8 million changing hands in the first three minutes of trade. The counter was up 2.8 per cent or S$0.04 to S$1.48.

SGX S68 continued its downward slide in early trade, falling 1.2 per cent or S$0.14 to S$11.19, after 267,700 shares worth S$3 million were traded.

Property developer Heeton 5DP saw the heaviest trade on Friday morning, with 8.3 million shares worth S$2.7 million changing hands, leading to a jump of 8.8 per cent or 2.5 Singapore cents in its share price to 31 cents.

Other counters that saw active trading include Enviro-Hub L23 , on the back of the announcement of its pastel glove deal. The counter surged 4.8 per cent or 0.4 Singapore cent to 8.8 cents, after 4.2 million shares changed hands. Riverstone AP4 , which reported a profit surge on Friday morning, was up 5 per cent or S$0.06 to S$1.27, after 1.8 million shares worth S$2.3 million were traded.

The trio of local banks were mixed in early trade. DBS slipped 0.03 per cent or S$0.01 to S$30.79, OCBC was down 0.2 per cent or S$0.03 to S$12.40, but UOB edged up 0.1 per cent or S$0.03 to S$26.52.

Over on Wall Street, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 closed at record levels on Thursday after a spate of strong corporate earnings and a further decline in unemployment claims last week. Investors also weighed concerns about the surge in the Delta variant ahead of Friday's jobs report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 271.58 points or 0.8 per cent to 35,064.25, the broad-based S&P 500 gained 26.44 points or 0.6 per cent to 4,429.10, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite added 114.58 points or 0.8 per cent to 14,895.12.

European stocks ended at record highs on Thursday, as strong results from Novo Nordisk and Siemens outweighed weak mining stocks and losses in major German retailers whose earnings were hurt by Covid-related disruptions.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended 0.4 per cent higher at 469.96 points, its fourth consecutive peak this week.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Friday, extending rallies on Wall Street as investor focus shifted to key US jobs data due on Friday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.6 per cent or 154.99 points at 27,883.11 in early trade, while the broader Topix index rose 0.2 per cent or 2.87 points to 1,931.85.