Singapore shares fall at Thursday’s open; STI down 0.1%

SINGAPORE stocks opened lower on Thursday (Mar 30), bucking the global trend on a day which saw gains for stock markets worldwide.

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) fell 0.1 per cent or 2.45 points to 3,260.09.

Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 87 to 45 after 104.4 million securities worth S$112 million changed hands. 

The most active stock by volume was Sembcorp Marine , which fell by 0.9 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.114 with 40.1 million securities traded. Index counter Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was down 2.4 per cent or S$0.03 to S$1.21, with 4.3 million shares traded.

Banking shares were mixed in morning trade. DBS fell 0.7 per cent or S$0.25 to S$33.34, one day after the Monetary Authority of Singapore said the bank’s digital services disruption incident was “unacceptable” and it would take “commensurate supervisory actions” against the bank.

UOB was up 0.2 per cent or S$0.06 to S$30.01, while OCBC fell 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$12.52. 

Rex International was up 1.4 per cent or S$0.002 to S$0.148, while units of CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust fell 0.5 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.93.

Meanwhile, Wall Street stocks powered higher on Wednesday as markets cheered the apparent containment of a banking industry crisis that has rattled investors in recent weeks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 1 per cent at 32,717.60. The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 1.4 per cent to 4,027.81, and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.8 per cent to 11,926.24.

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Singapore shares track higher on Wednesday, STI up 0.2%

In Europe, shares rose overnight, supported by gains in banking stocks such as UBS, which rose after naming a new chief executive officer. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed the day 1.3 per cent higher at 450.21.