Singapore shares decline on Wednesday; STI down 0.2%

SINGAPORE shares opened weaker on Wednesday (Dec 7) after Wall Street made losses at the closing bell a day earlier.

The Straits Times Index (STI) fell 5.94 point or 0.2 per cent to 3,246.43 as at 9 am. Losers outnumbered gainers 71 to 41, after 50 million securities worth S$57.3 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was  Sembcorp Marine , which lost 0.7 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.144 with 10.2 million shares traded.

Other heavily traded index securities include  Thai Beverage , which gained 0.8 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.66 as 4.4 million shares changed hands, as well as Singtel , slipping 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.65 with two million stocks traded as at 9.01 am.

The trio of local lenders were mixed in early trade.  DBS shed 0.5 per cent or S$0.17 to S$33.83, UOB eased 0.3 per cent or S$0.08 at S$30.72, while OCBC opened unchanged at S$12.20 as at 9.01 am.

Elsewhere, Wall Street stocks tumbled again on Tuesday as leading bank executives expressed worries about a possible recession, adding to investor unease.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 1 per cent at 33,596.34, the broad-based S&P 500 shed 1.4 per cent to 3,941.26, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 2.0 per cent to 11,014.89.

In Europe, shares declined as they were dragged down by weakness in healthcare and rate-sensitive tech stocks, with investors concerned about a global economic slowdown in the run-up to a raft of major central bank decisions.

The region-wide Stoxx 600 index closed 0.6 per cent lower, extending losses for a third day, as optimism around China easing its Covid-19 restrictions was overshadowed by worries around interest rates and the likelihood of recession.