Singapore shares pull back at Thursday’s open, tracking global retreat; STI down 0.8%
Vivienne Tay
SINGAPORE shares slipped when trading began on Thursday (Oct 19) following overnight losses on Wall Street and Europe.
The Straits Times Index (STI) headed down 0.8 per cent or 25.12 points to 3,111.50 as at 9.01 am. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 94 to 38, after 84.8 million securities worth S$84.1 million changed hands.
The most active counter by volume was Seatrium , which lost 1.7 per cent or S$0.002 to S$0.119 with 36.7 million shares traded.
Other heavily traded securities included CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust , which was down 1.7 per cent or S$0.03 to S$1.76, with 3.9 million units traded, as well as Golden Agri-Resources , which held steady at S$0.265, with 3.4 million shares traded.
Banking stocks fell in early morning trade. DBS slipped 0.7 per cent or S$0.24 to S$33.11, UOB was down 0.8 per cent or S$0.21 to S$27.89, and OCBC dropped 0.7 per cent or S$0.09 to S$12.86.
Other active index counters included Singapore Airlines , which declined 1.9 per cent or S$0.12 to S$6.07, and Wilmar International , which retreated by 1.7 per cent or S$0.06 to S$3.52.
In the US, stocks fell on Wednesday following a set of lacklustre earnings, not helped by investor concerns over the conflict in the Middle East.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 1 per cent lower at 33,665.08, the S&P 500 lost 1.3 per cent to 4,314.60, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.6 per cent to 13,314.30.
European shares also closed lower on Wednesday, weighed by losses from chipmakers and British drugmaker AstraZeneca, along with worries over the Middle East conflict. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 1.1 per cent, its lowest level in over a week.
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