Singapore shares fall at Thursday’s open; STI down 0.5%

SINGAPORE shares were pulled into negative territory at Thursday’s (Dec 29) opening, following a depressing session on Wall Street a day earlier.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) fell 14.94 points or 0.5 per cent to 3,252.03 points after 31.3 million shares worth S$35.1 million changed hands as at 9.02 am. Losers outnumbered gainers 70 to 42.

Thai Beverage : Y92 0% was the top-traded counter by volume in the morning, with over 5.5 million shares traded as it started the day unchanged at S$0.69.

Lendlease Global Commercial Reit : JYEU 0% also saw active trading, as the counter dropped 2.1 per cent or S$0.015 to S$0.695. Two million of its units were traded.

Index counter Singtel : Z74 0% was the most heavily traded among those listed on the STI. The telco’s shares slipped 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.57 as at 9 am, after 877,700 shares changed hands.

All three banks opened in negative territory on Thursday. DBS : D05 0% fell 0.8 per cent or S$0.27 to S$33.93, UOB : U11 0% slipped 0.5 per cent or S$0.15 to S$30.81, while OCBC : O39 0% dipped 0.3 per cent or S$0.04 to S$12.31.

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Over on Wall Street, stocks fell on Wednesday despite starting the day in a pasture of green. Analysts believe this could in part be due to end-of-the-year selling by investors who look to record a loss for tax purposes.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 1.1 per cent at 32,875.71, the broad-based S&P 500 shed 1.2 per cent to 3,783,22, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.4 per cent to 10,213.29.

Losses were broad-based, but large technology shares suffered more than others. Apple dropped 3.1 per cent, Netflix 2.6 per cent and Google parent Alphabet 1.7 per cent.

Meanwhile, European shares were also down on Wednesday, weighed down by declines in energy stocks. The regionwide Stoxx 600 dipped 0.1 per cent as energy stocks fell 0.8 per cent, tracking lower oil prices.