Singapore stocks dip slightly at Friday’s open; STI down 0.1 %

SINGAPORE shares dipped slightly on Friday (May 5) as global markets continued reacting to the latest US Federal Reserve rate hike. 

The Straits Times Index (STI) lost 1.86 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 3,267.32 as at 9.02 am.

Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 58 to 52 as 33.3 million securities worth S$46.4 million were traded. 

Marine engineering group Seatrium was one of the most actively traded stocks by volume with 5.1 million of its shares changing hands. Its share price fell S$0.001 or 0.8 per cent to S$0.128.  Another actively traded stock was beverage group Thai Beverage which gained S$0.005 or 0.8 per cent to S$0.635.   Index stock Singtel also saw notable activity with its shares trading one Singapore cent lower at S$2.58, a 0.4 per cent difference. Singapore’s big three banks saw mixed results in the morning. DBS dropped S$0.07 to S$32.06, a 0.2 per cent fall. OCBC was the most actively traded of the three with 829,200 shares trading hands, although this had no effect on its share price, which remained at S$12.67. UOB was the only local bank to open trading on the up, with its share price rising 0.1 per cent or S$0.04 to S$28.09.

Wall Street stocks ended Thursday with a dip, after the Fed announced its interest rate hike from 5 per cent to 5.25 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9 per cent to 33,127.74. The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.7 per cent to 4,061.22, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.5 per cent at 11,966.40. European stocks followed the US trend, with the European Stoxx 600 dipping 0.2 point – or 0.5 per cent – to 45.91, with the European Central Bank announcing a similar 25 basis point increase in its interest rates to 3.25 per cent, with the promise of more increases to come in the mid-term.