Singapore shares fall at Friday’s open after global sell-off; STI down 0.3%
Vivienne Tay
SINGAPORE shares pulled back at the open on Friday (Oct 20), following another day of overnight losses on Wall Street and Europe.
The Straits Times Index (STI) headed down 0.3 per cent or 10.46 points to 3,089.14 as at 9.02 am. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 66 to 38, after 32.3 million securities worth S$55.6 million changed hands.
The most active counter by volume was Seatrium , which gained 0.9 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.118 with 7.6 million shares traded.
Other heavily traded securities included Thai Beverage , which held steady at S$0.54 with four million shares traded, and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding , which lost 2.1 per cent or S$0.03 to S$1.42, with 2.3 million shares traded.
Banking stocks started the morning in the red. DBS declined 0.5 per cent or S$0.17 to S$33, UOB slipped 0.5 per cent or S$0.14 to S$27.74, and OCBC fell 0.6 per cent or S$0.07 to S$12.76.
Other active index counters included Keppel , which was up 1.3 per cent or S$0.08 to S$6.33. The group said in a voluntary business update on Thursday that its full-year dividend is set to hit S$2.70 per share. It noted that net profit for its fiscal third quarter ended September was “stronger” year on year, but did not disclose a profit figure.
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Stocks on Wall Street ended Thursday lower as traders monitored high Treasury yields and assessed the latest comments by the Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell on inflation.
Powell said on Thursday that US inflation is “still too high” despite a recent slowdown, and if additional data showed persistent above-trend growth or a reversal in labour market cooling, the central bank could reconsider its current pause in rate hikes.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.8 per cent to end at 33,414.04. The S&P 500 Index dropped 0.9 per cent to 4,277.99, and the Nasdaq Composite Index closed 1 per cent lower to 13,186.18.
European shares, meanwhile, fell further into negative territory on Thursday as corporate earnings continued to disappoint investors, coupled with jitters over the Middle East conflict and uncertainty over interest rates.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 hit a two-week low, slipping 1.2 per cent at the end of the trading session.
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