Singapore shares fall at Wednesday’s open amid rate hike jitters; STI down 0.3%

SINGAPORE shares started Wednesday (Mar 8) in negative territory, after interest rate hike fears spread across global markets overnight.

As at 9.03 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) was down 9.32 points or 0.3 per cent at 3,235.95. Losers outnumbered gainers 98 to 36, with 186.9 million securities worth S$83.3 million changing hands.

Sembcorp Marine was the most actively traded counter by volume, declining S$0.002 or 1.8 per cent to S$0.109, with 129.4 million shares transacted.

Shares of Yangzijiang Financial Holding were also briskly traded, though remaining unmoved at S$0.38.

Index counters Singtel and Thai Beverage (ThaiBev) were mixed in early trade. The telecommunications provider was up S$0.01 or 0.4 per cent at S$2.40, while the beverage manufacturer shed S$0.005 or 0.8 per cent to S$0.645.

The local banks also traded mixed, with UOB up S$0.02 or 0.1 per cent at S$29.47. DBS fell S$0.07 or 0.2 per cent to S$33.77, while OCBC lost S$0.08 or 0.6 per cent to S$12.60.

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Wall Street stocks took a tumble on Tuesday, following hawkish remarks by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell that the US central bank could hike rates more than expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 1.7 per cent to finish at 32,856.46. The broad-based S&P 500 shed 1.5 per cent to 3,986.37, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.3 per cent to 11,530.33.

European shares on Tuesday logged their steepest one-day fall in two weeks, as investors assessed the prospects of a 50-basis point rate hike. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.8 per cent lower at 460.6, with real-estate and technology stocks taking a sharp hit.