Singapore shares fall at Wednesday’s open; STI down 0.8%

SINGAPORE stocks opened weaker on Wednesday (Jan 3) following overnight losses in the US and Europe after technology stocks took a beating.

On the Singapore bourse, the Straits Times Index (STI) headed down 0.8 per cent or 25.88 points to 3,204.07 as at 9.01 am. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 86 to 36, after 83.7 million securities worth S$57.8 million changed hands.

One of the most active counters by volume was Seatrium , which lost 0.8 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.119 with 18 million shares traded.

Other heavily traded securities included Thai Beverage Public Company , which held steady at S$0.54 with 13.2 million shares traded, as well as Genting Singapore , which fell 1.5 per cent or S$0.015 to S$0.995 with 3.5 million shares traded.

Banking stocks lost ground in early morning trade. DBS was down 0.9 per cent or S$0.31 to S$32.97, UOB was trading 0.6 per cent or S$0.18 lower at S$28.32, and OCBC declined 0.8 per cent or S$0.10 to S$12.82.

A majority of other index counters were also in the red. CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust lost 2 per cent or S$0.04 to S$2, and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding dropped 2 per cent or S$0.03 to S$1.51.

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In the US, stocks finished mostly lower on Tuesday. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 1.6 per cent to end at 14,765.94, and the broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.6 per cent to 4,742.83. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, inched up 0.1 per cent to 37,715.04.

In Europe, tech stocks led declines in the equity markets on Tuesday, which closed the first trading day of 2024 lower. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index lost 0.2 per cent, with eurozone government bond yields rising.