Singapore stocks open on Thursday tracking Wall Street retreat; STI down 0.6%

SINGAPORE stocks started Thursday (Dec 7) on a softer note, mirroring overnight losses on Wall Street.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) headed down 0.6 per cent or 16.93 points to 3,070.31 as at 9.02 am. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 66 to 37 after 36.8 million securities worth S$55.9 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was Seatrium , which lost 1 per cent, or S$0.001, to S$0.101 with 4.9 million shares changing hands. This was followed by Genting Singapore , which rose 0.5 per cent, or S$0.005, to S$0.93 after 3.3 million shares traded, and Thai Beverage , which held steady at S$0.50 with 3.1 million shares transacted.

Banking stocks fell in early morning trade. DBS was trading down 0.9 per cent, or S$0.29, to S$31.19. OCBC lost 0.6 per cent, or S$0.07, to S$12.54, and UOB dropped 0.4 per cent, or S$0.10, to S$27.19.

US indices closed on Wednesday lower amid a cooling job market and oil price tumbles. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2 per cent to 36,054.43. The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.4 per cent to 4,549.34, and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.6 per cent to 14,146.71.

Over in Europe, the disappointing industrial orders data in Germany fuelled rate cuts hope, boosting the benchmark index of the eurozone’s largest economy to an all-time high. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.6 per cent, while Germany’s DAX closed 0.8 per cent higher.