Singapore stocks track Wall Street retreat at Thursday’s open; STI down 0.8%
Mia Pei
SINGAPORE stocks began trading in negative territory on Thursday (Feb 1) morning, following overnight losses on Wall Street amid earnings releases.
Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) headed down 0.8 per cent or 25.95 points to 3,127.06 as at 9.04 am. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 94 to 33, or about three securities down for every one up, after 97.8 million securities worth S$110 million changed hands.
The most active counter by volume was Seatrium , which lost 1 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.099 with 42.3 million shares changing hands.
Other heavily traded securities included CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust , which dropped 2 per cent or S$0.04 to S$1.97 with 5.9 million shares transacted, and Singtel , which lost 0.8 per cent or S$0.02 to S$2.38 with three million shares traded.
Banking stocks fell in early morning trade. DBS was trading down 0.3 per cent or S$0.08 at S$31.80. OCBC lost 0.5 per cent or S$0.06 to S$12.83, while UOB lost 0.8 per cent or S$0.22 to S$28.15.
US indices closed Wednesday lower, as the Federal Reserve’s signal to postpone rate cuts dampened market sentiments. The broad-based S&P 500 was down 1.6 per cent at 4,845.65. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.8 per cent to 38,150.3, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 2.2 per cent to 15,164.01.
Over in Europe, shares ended flat on Wednesday, as losses in technology stocks offset gains by upbeat earnings. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed steady at 485.67, logging a 1.4 per cent rise in January, its third consecutive monthly gain.
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