Singapore shares fall at Wednesday’s open; STI down 0.2%

SINGAPORE stocks opened lower on Wednesday (Mar 29), after US markets ended in the red overnight.

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) fell 0.2 per cent or 7.66 points to 3,247.88.

Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 59 to 45, after 82.1 million securities worth S$58.9 million changed hands. 

The most active stock by volume was Sembcorp Marine , which rose 1.8 per cent or S$0.002 to S$0.112, with 91.5 million securities transacted. Singtel , another heavily traded counter, was down 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 at S$2.42, with 3.1 million shares changing hands.

Banking shares were mixed in early trade. DBS fell 0.1 per cent or S$0.04 to S$33.58, and UOB gained 0.1 per cent or S$0.04 to S$29.80. OCBC declined 0.8 per cent or S$0.10 to S$12.45. 

Golden Agri-Resources decreased 1.8 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.28, while Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust slid 1.6 per cent or S$0.02 to S$1.27. Wall Street stocks ended lower on Tuesday, shrugging off solid consumer confidence data as US Treasury bond yields climbed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1 per cent to 32,394.25. The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.2 per cent to 3,971.27, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.5 per cent to 11,716.08.

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Singapore stocks end higher on Tuesday; STI up 0.5%

In Europe, stocks closed flat on Tuesday after struggling for direction amid lingering fears of a deeper crisis brought on by the collapse of Credit Suisse and two US banks. The continent-wide Stoxx 600 index closed down 0.1 per cent at 444.45.