Singapore stocks drop at Wednesday’s open; STI down 0.7%

SINGAPORE shares opened markedly lower on Wednesday (May 3), tracking overnight losses on Wall Street and Europe.

The Straits Times Index (STI) shed 21.22 points or 0.7 per cent to 3.260.77 as at 9.01 am. Losers outnumbered gainers 77 to 22 after 59.3 million securities worth S$49.9 million changed hands.

Seatrium , formerly known as Sembcorp Marine, was among the top traded counters by volume with 12.8 million shares changing hands at the open to fall S$0.001 or 0.8 per cent to S$0.129.

Index stocks Genting Singapore and Singtel also experienced brisk trading. The casino operator shed S$0.04 or 3.6 per cent to trade at S$1.08, while the telecommunications provider was unchanged at S$2.56.

CapitaLand Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust was actively transacted in terms of volume as well, although its unit price remained flat at S$2.83. Its manager on Tuesday posted an 11.1 per cent positive rental reversion for the first quarter of 2023.

The trio of local banks were all trading lower on Wednesday morning. DBS fell S$0.50 or 1.5 per cent to S$32.45, while UOB declined S$0.19 or 0.7 per cent to S$28.07. OCBC dipped S$0.06 or 0.5 per cent to S$12.60.

In the US, stocks ended the trading day lower on Tuesday as regional bank stocks declined on expectations of another Fed rate hike.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 1.1 per cent lower at 33,684.46. The broad-based S&P 500 fell 1.2 per cent to 4,119.60, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 1.1 per cent to 12,080.51.

European shares on Tuesday started the shortened week at their lowest levels in nearly a month as energy stocks slumped.

SEE ALSO

Stocks to watch: Keppel, CapitaLand Ascendas Reit, Unusual

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 1.2 per cent to 461.08, closing at its worst level since early April.