Singapore shares open lower on Friday; STI down 0.2%

SINGAPORE shares started trading in negative territory on Friday (Jul 7), mirroring the slump in global markets.

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) was down 6.17 points or 0.2 per cent at 3,144.26. Across the broader market, decliners outnumbered advancers 60 to 35 as 27.4 million securities worth S$52.3 million changed hands.

Index counter Seatrium was the most actively traded in terms of volume, remaining unchanged at S$0.125 with 2.7 million of its shares transacted.

Shares in Yangzijiang Shipbuilding were also briskly traded, opening flat at S$1.48.

Mapletree Logistics Trust fell 1.2 per cent or S$0.02 to S$1.61.

The trio of local banks opened mixed. DBS was flat at S$30.71, OCBC declined 0.3 per cent or S$0.04 to S$12.06, and UOB gained 0.2 per cent or S$0.05 to S$27.56.

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Wall Street stocks dropped on Thursday, following strong US economic data that boosts the chances for more Federal Reserve interest rate hikes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 33,922.26, down 1.1 per cent. The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.8 per cent to 4,411.59, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index also declined 0.8 per cent to 13,679.04.

Over in Europe, shares slumped to their lowest level in three months on Thursday, as heightened concerns about further interest rate hikes globally dented risk sentiment. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index deepened losses by the close to fall 2.3 per cent to 447.22, its lowest level since late March.