Singapore shares pull back at Friday’s open on Wall Street selloff; STI down 0.6%

SINGAPORE shares struggled to advance at Friday’s (Mar 10) open, following a retreat on Wall Street amid worries over the financial sector.

As at 9.02 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) headed down 0.6 per cent or 19.78 points to 3,194.73. Losers outnumbered gainers 112 to 22, or about five securities down for every one up, after 54.3 million securities worth S$77.1 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was Sembcorp Marine , which rose 0.9 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.108, with 17.9 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded securities included Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust , which held steady at S$1.40 with 2.8 million shares traded, as well as Singtel , which declined 0.8 per cent or S$0.02 to S$2.37 with 2.5 million shares traded.

Banking stocks in Singapore also started the morning weaker.  DBS was down 0.1 per cent or S$0.03 to S$33.46, UOB slid 0.7 per cent or S$0.19 to S$29.12, while OCBC lost 0.8 per cent or S$0.10 to S$12.44. Other active index counters included CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust , which was down 1.1 per cent or S$0.02 to S$1.86, and ST Engineering , which traded 1.2 per cent or S$0.04 lower at S$3.38.

In the US, stocks retreated on Thursday, dragged by banking stocks following signs of trouble at two regional banks.

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Silicon Valley-focused financial company SVB Financial said on Wednesday that it lost US$1.8 billion following securities sales to raise funds, amid declining customer deposits. Meanwhile, crypto bank Silvergate disclosed plans to shut down.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.7 per cent to 32,254.86, the broad-based S&P 500 slipped 1.9 per cent to 3,918.32, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 2.1 per cent to 11,338.35.

European shares ended lower on Thursday, with real estate counters in the red as concerns over high interest rates remaining for longer weighED on investors. The Stoxx 600 index closed down 0.2 per cent after recouping some losses earlier in the trading session.