Singapore shares edge lower on Wednesday; STI down 0.1%

SINGAPORE stocks struggled to advance on Wednesday (Nov 22), as pullbacks on Wall Street and Europe clashed with the Singapore trade ministry’s expectations that economic growth would come in at around 1 per cent.

The growth outlook hits the midpoint of the gross domestic product forecast range that the Ministry of Trade and Industry had earlier expected.

The Straits Times Index (STI) was down 0.1 per cent or 1.97 points to 3,094.37 as at 9.03 am. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 67 to 48, after 33.7 million securities worth S$53.2 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was Yangzijiang Shipbuilding , which lost 0.7 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.45, with 5.1 million shares traded.

Other heavily traded securities included Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust , which shed 0.9 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.14, and Singtel , which rose 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.26.

Banking stocks were mostly higher in early trade. DBS was up 0.3 per cent or S$0.10 at S$31.90 as at 9.03 am, UOB was flat at S$27.15, while OCBC rose 0.2 per cent, or S$0.02 to S$12.75.

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Wall Street stocks retreated on Tuesday following mixed results from retailers. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.2 per cent at 35,088.29. The S&P 500 slipped 0.2 per cent to 4,538.19, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.6 per cent to 14,199.98.

In Europe, the pan-European Stoxx 600 dropped 0.1 per cent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB index ended 1.3 per cent lower, logging its worst daily performance in a month.