Singapore shares fall at Thursday’s open; STI down 0.4%

SINGAPORE stocks opened weaker on Thursday (Nov 23), led by declines in banks and other index counters.

The Straits Times Index (STI) headed down 0.4 per cent or 12.43 points to 3,102.49 as at 9.01 am. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 53 to 39, after 34.1 million securities worth S$37 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was Seatrium , which held steady at S$0.11 with 6.9 million shares traded.

Other heavily traded securities included Genting Singapore , which shed 0.5 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.92 with 4.5 million shares transacted, and Thai Beverage , which lost 0.9 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.535 with 3.4 million shares changing hands.

On Wednesday, the beverage manufacturer posted a 9 per cent drop in net profit to 27.4 billion baht (S$1.2 billion) for its full year ended Sep 30. This was mainly attributed to cost pressures, as well as increased expenditure on brand investment and marketing.

Local banking stocks slipped in early morning trade. DBS was down 0.6 per cent or S$0.18 to S$31.88, UOB dropped 0.5 per cent or S$0.13 to S$27.26, while OCBC fell 0.4 per cent or S$0.05 to S$12.77.

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Other active index counters included Singtel , which declined 1.3 per cent or S$0.03 to S$2.26, and CapitaLand Investment , which was also trading 1.3 per cent or S$0.04 lower at S$3.07.

Wall Street stocks finished higher on Wednesday as US Treasury yields continued to retreat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.5 per cent to end at 35,273.03. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.4 per cent to 4,556.62, and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.5 per cent to 14,265.86.

European shares hit a two-month high on Wednesday. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed 0.3 per cent higher at 457.24, with real estate stocks leading gains and rising 1.5 per cent.