Singapore stocks fall at Friday’s open; STI down 0.7%
Goh Ruoxue
SINGAPORE shares fell at the opening bell on Friday (Aug 18), tracking tumbles in the US and Europe markets.
As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) shed 21.63 points or 0.7 per cent to 3,175.12. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 77 to 27, after 24.8 million securities worth S$36.8 million changed hands.
The most actively traded counter by volume was Seatrium , which rose 0.7 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.137 after 3.4 million of its securities were transacted.
Other counters that were briskly traded included Yangzijiang Shipbuilding , which remained flat at S$1.72, as well as Koh Brothers Eco Engineering , which gained 3.6 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.029.
Banking stocks opened mired in red on Friday morning, with DBS slipping 0.7 per cent or S$0.22 to S$32.55. UOB fell 1.1 per cent or S$0.32 to S$27.79, while OCBC lost 0.7 per cent or S$0.08 to S$12.23.
Wall Street stocks sank for a third straight season as treasury bond yields surged even further from multi-year highs, with the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note climbing above 4.3 per cent after hitting its 15-year peak on Wednesday. The rise in yields has stoked fears over equities and other risk assets.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.8 per cent at 34,474.83, while the broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.8 per cent to 4,370.36. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 1.2 per cent to 13,316.93.
European shares also ended in a sea of red, amid a slew of downbeat earnings weighing on sentiment and high interest rates concerns.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed down 0.9 per cent at 451.19, hitting the lowest in over a month during the session.
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