Singapore shares muted at Thursday’s open amid global retreat

SINGAPORE stocks opened muted on Thursday (Jan 4) as global markets continued to retreat in the second trading day of the year.

The Straits Times Index edged up 0.03 per cent or 0.8 point to 3,200.24 as at 9.01 am. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 62 to 42, after 55.7 million securities worth S$44.7 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was Seatrium , which lost 1.7 per cent or S$0.002 to S$0.113 with 24.2 million shares traded.

Other heavily traded securities included Rex International , which added 1.7 per cent or S$0.003 to S$0.185 with 3.7 million shares traded, and Singtel , which shed 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.42 wth 2.9 million shares traded.

Banking stocks were mixed in early morning trade. DBS gained 0.5 per cent or S$0.16 to S$33.08, UOB advanced 0.5 per cent or S$0.15 to S$28.36, while OCBC declined 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$12.81.

In the US, stocks continued to fall on Wednesday amid uncertainty over when the Federal Reserve would start lowering interest rates.

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Stocks to watch: Seatrium, Dyna-Mac

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.8 per cent to 37,430.19. The broad-based S&P 500 retreated 0.8 per cent as well to 4,704.81, and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index slid a further 1.2 per cent to finish the day at 14,592.21.

European shares saw their worst day in nearly eight weeks after ending 2023 on a positive note. The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended 0.9 per cent lower.