Singapore stocks fall at Wednesday’s open on key exports data; STI down 0.4%
Michelle Zhu
SINGAPORE shares opened lower on Wednesday (Jan 17) after data from Enterprise Singapore showed that the country’s non-oil domestic exports shrank 1.5 per cent year on year in December.
This represented a reversal from the previous month’s 1 per cent rise and fell short of private-sector economists’ expectations of 3 per cent growth.
As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) was down 12.11 points or 0.4 per cent to 3,172.88. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 64 to 21 after 55.8 million securities worth S$38.7 million changed hands.
Index counters Seatrium and Thai Beverage were heavily traded in terms of volume. The offshore and marine engineering group added S$0.001 or 0.9 per cent to S$0.114 after 38.8 million of its shares were transacted, while the beverage manufacturer remained flat at S$0.525 despite brisk trading activity.
Units of First Reit lost S$0.005 or 1.9 per cent to S$0.265 amid heavy volumes.
The local banks were all trading lower at the open. DBS slid S$0.19 or 0.6 per cent to S$32.15. UOB fell S$0.17 or 0.6 per cent to S$28.03, and OCBC inched down S$0.08 or 0.6 per cent to S$12.79.
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Wall Street stocks fell on Tuesday as markets weighed mixed results from large banks, while US Treasury yields pushed higher.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 0.6 per cent to 37,361.12. The broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.4 per cent to 4,765.98, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.2 per cent to 14,944.35.
Shares in Europe slipped at Tuesday’s close as well, as investors reined in expectations of early interest rate cuts following recent comments from European Central Bank officials.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended 0.3 per cent lower at 473.06 after touching its lowest level in over a month during the intraday.
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