Singapore stocks open lower on Friday; STI down 0.2%

SINGAPORE stocks opened lower on Friday (Feb 10) amid gains in the US and European markets.

The Straits Times Index (STI) dropped 0.2 per cent or 7.63 points to 3,351.85 as at 9.01 am. Losers outpaced gainers 79 to 30 after 71.5 million securities worth S$65.1 million changed hands.

Halcyon Agri was the most traded stock with 17.6 million shares changing hands. It opened flat at S$0.405.

Sembcorp Marine was the second most traded stock with 5.2 million shares changing hands. It opened flat at S$0.136.

Meanwhile, Yoma Strategic opened 4.2 per cent higher or S$0.005 at S$0.123, with 3.5 million shares being traded. Before the opening bell on Friday, the group reported a 76 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue for the quarter ended December 2022 to US$35.9 million from US$20.4 million.

Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust dropped 0.8 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.30 at the opening bell, with 1.2 million units traded.

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All three local banks declined. DBS dropped 0.5 per cent or S$0.16 at the opening bell to S$35.76, while UOB declined 0.2 per cent or S$0.06 to S$30.34. OCBC shed 0.3 per cent or S$0.04 to open at S$13.06.

In the US, stocks opened higher on Thursday as a series of strong quarterly earnings and data showing a rise in weekly jobless claims outweighed concerns about the Federal Reserve’s rate-hike path.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 156.6 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 34,105.61 at the open. The S&P 500 opened higher by 26.39 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 4,144.25, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 158.58 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 12,069.1 at the opening bell. Shares in Europe rose for the third straight session on Thursday. Cooling inflation in Germany and a slew of upbeat earnings offset concerns over hawkish comments by top central bank policymakers and alleviated fears of a steep recession. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed higher by 0.6 per cent, after hitting a near one-year high in the earlier session.