Singapore shares continue slide from Asia rout; STI down 3.4% at Friday's open

SINGAPORE stocks opened sharply lower on Friday, after dropping 3.4 per cent at Thursday's close, alongside a dismal showing by the rest of Asia's key indices following a dour economic outlook announced by the US Federal Reserve.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) fell 3.4 per cent or 92.2 points to 2,611.99 as at 9.08am. Losers greatly outnumbered gainers 238 to 28, after 177.3 million securities worth S$236.1 million changed hands.

Among the most active counters by volume was Genting Singapore, which lost 2.5 Singapore cents or 3.3 per cent to 74.5 cents, with 14.8 million shares changing hands. 

Other heavily traded securities include ComfortDelGro, which lost 4.5 per cent or S$0.07 to S$1.50, with 4.8 million shares traded.

Meanwhile, Singtel slipped 1.6 per cent or S$0.04 to S$2.53, with 5.9 million shares changing hands. The telco on Thursday announced it is part of a consortium of companies building a high-performance submarine cable connecting Singapore, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and China.

The trio of local banks all fell in early trade. DBS was down 4.4 per cent or S$0.98 at S$21.17, UOB declined 3.8 per cent or S$0.85 to S$21.69.

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OCBC lost 4 per cent or S$0.38 to S$9.02. The lender on Thursday said it will resume face-to-face wealth advisory services by appointment only for bancassurance, funds, structured investments and bonds at 27 branches and nine OCBC Premier Banking Centres. 

Other active index counters include Singapore Airlines, which dropped 4.3 per cent or S$0.18 to S$4.02. The carrier on Thursday said it is reinstating flights to a number of cities, and ramping up frequencies for several of its existing services in June and July.

Sembcorp Industries fell 3.5 per cent or S$0.07 to S$1.91, while SATS lost 3.8 per cent or S$0.12 to S$3.07. 

US stocks plunged on Thursday as revived worries about the coronavirus and excessive equity prices produced the worst session since March, when turmoil over the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak.

Meanwhile, European shares suffered their worst day in more than 11 weeks on Thursday after a sobering economic outlook from the US Fed and worries of a second wave of Covid-19 cases.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened down more than 2 per cent on Friday following the plunge in US indices.