Singapore shares fall at Friday’s open, tracking global retreat; STI down 0.6%
Vivienne Tay
SINGAPORE stocks opened weaker on Friday (Sep 22), following overnight losses on Wall Street and Europe.
The Straits Times Index (STI) headed down 0.6 per cent or 20.11 points to 3,182.7 as at 9.02 am. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 78 to 19, or about four securities down for every one up. About 51.9 million securities worth S$53.4 million changed hands.
One of the most active counters by volume was Seatrium , which lost 1.5 per cent or S$0.002 to S$0.132 as at 9.11 am, with 27.4 million shares transacted.
Other heavily traded securities included Genting Singapore , which was down 1.2 per cent or S$0.01 to S$0.85 with 12.5 million shares traded, as well as Singtel , which declined 0.8 per cent or S$0.02 to S$2.41 with 4.2 million shares changing hands.
Banking stocks were mixed in early morning trade. DBS fell 0.5 per cent or S$0.17 to S$33.05, UOB slipped 0.8 per cent or S$0.23 to S$28.03, while OCBC rose 0.2 per cent or S$0.03 to S$12.51.
US stocks pulled back on Thursday amid worries of a potential US government shutdown, along with concerns over further interest rate hikes. The Dow Jones closed 1.1 per cent lower at 34,070.42, the broad-based S&P 500 lost 1.6 per cent to 4,330, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.8 per cent to 13,223.98.
In Europe, share prices fell as rising bond yields added pressure, and major banks hinted at keeping borrowing costs elevated for an extended period. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index finished 1.3 per cent lower at 454.67.
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