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

SINGAPORE stocks opened weaker on Thursday (Nov 16) amid heavy trading on real estate investment trusts and declines among index counters.

The Straits Times Index (STI) headed down 0.5 per cent or 16.15 points to 3,115.97 as at 9.03 am. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 70 to 51, after 52.6 million securities worth S$70.4 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was Genting Singapore , which dropped 1 per cent, or S$0.01 to S$0.95, with eight million shares traded.

Other heavily traded securities included Seatrium , which held steady at S$0.11 with 3.8 million shares traded, and Manulife US Real Estate Investment Trust , which lost 1.1 per cent or US$0.001 to US$0.093, with 3.3 million units traded.

Banking stocks slipped in early morning trade. DBS was down 0.6 per cent or S$0.20 to S$32.22, UOB was trading 0.4 per cent or S$0.12 lower at S$27.19, and OCBC shed 0.3 per cent or S$0.04 to S$12.84.

Other active index counters included CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust , which declined 1.6 per cent or S$0.03 to S$1.86, and Mapletree Logistics Trust , which was down 1.3 per cent or S$0.02 to S$1.57.

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US stocks finished higher on Wednesday, extending a rally from the previous day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.5 per cent higher at 34,991.21. The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.2 per cent to 4,502.88, and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.1 per cent to close at 14,103.84.

In Europe, shares closed the day in positive territory as investors cheered slowing inflation in major economies. The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended 0.4 per cent higher, and Britain’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.6 per cent.