Singapore stocks down at Thursday’s open on dismal export data; STI falls 0.7%

SINGAPORE stocks started trading in negative territory on Thursday (Aug 17), following news that July’s non-oil domestic export figures slid 20.2 per cent year on year to mark the 10th straight month of decline.

The decline was steeper than June’s 15.6 per cent contraction and surpassed the median 14.3 per cent drop forecast by economists polled by Bloomberg.

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) shed 20.87 points or 0.7 per cent to 3,192.71. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 81 to 35 with 58.4 million securities worth S$55.5 million changing hands.

Seatrium and watch-listed logistics services provider Eneco Energy were among the top-traded counters by volume at the open, with their share prices both remaining flat at S$0.134 and S$0.014, respectively.

Marco Polo Marine gained S$0.001 or 1.9 per cent to S$0.053 amid brisk trading, after the marine logistics company announced that its gross profit for the third quarter ended June rose 47.2 per cent year on year to S$14.2 million.

The trio of local banks were all down in early trade, with DBS losing S$0.24 or 0.7 per cent to S$32.86. UOB fell S$0.11 or 0.4 per cent to S$28.17, and OCBC dipped S$0.06 or 0.5 per cent to S$12.31.

Wall Street equities declined on Wednesday amid a surge in Treasury bond yields to multi-year highs, as analysts warned that Federal Reserve meeting minutes were more hawkish than expected.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.5 per cent at 34,765.74.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.8 per cent to 4,404.33, and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.2 per cent to 13,474.63.

SEE ALSO

Stocks to watch: SGX, CapitaLand Ascendas Reit, Marco Polo Marine, Penguin

European shares ended Wednesday in the red as well, dragged by banks and luxury giants with exposure to China on mounting worries of the country’s economy losing steam.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed the day down 0.1 per cent at 455.29, after touching a new one-month low in intraday trading.