Singapore shares decline amid US inflation fears; STI down 1.4% at Friday's open

SINGAPORE stocks tumbled on Friday following an overnight rout on Wall Street, as US Treasury yields hit a new 52-week high amid ongoing fears about inflation.

On the Singapore bourse, the Straits Times Index (STI) headed down 1.4 per cent or 41.46 points to 2,932.08 as at 9.03am.

Losers outnumbered gainers 174 to 34, after 209.1 million securities worth S$278.2 million changed hands.

One of the most active counters by volume was Thai Beverage Public Company, which dropped by 1.4 per cent or one Singapore cent to 72.5 cents, with 11.9 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded securities included Thomson Medical, which was down 0.8 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to 11.8 cents, with 8.1 million shares traded, as well as Jiutian Chemical, which fell 2.1 per cent or 0.2 Singapore cent to 9.3 cents, with 8.1 million shares traded.

City Developments was down 2.3 per cent or S$0.17 to S$7.34 as at 9.20am. The property developer on Friday posted a net loss of S$1.92 billion for its second half ended Dec 31, 2020, sinking into the red from a net profit of S$202.6 million a year ago.

Olam International declined by 2.5 per cent or S$0.04 to S$1.59. The agri-food giant on Friday announced plans to list Olam Food Ingredients by the first half of 2022 as part of its ongoing business reorganisation. Separately, it posted a net loss of S$87 million for the second half-year ended December 2020, sinking into the red from its net profit of S$85.8 million the year before.

Banking stocks declined in early morning trade. DBS was down 1.6 per cent or S$0.42 to S$26.48, UOB lost 1.7 per cent or S$0.43 to S$24.22, while OCBC dropped 1.1 per cent or S$0.12 to S$10.95.

Other active index counters included Singtel, which declined by 1.3 per cent or S$0.03 to S$2.35, as well as Singapore Airlines, which fell 2 per cent or S$0.10 to S$4.93.

In the US, stocks dropped sharply as US Treasury yields hit a new 52-week high amid ongoing investor fears about inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.8 per cent to finish at 31,402.01, retreating from an all-time high set on Wednesday. The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 2.5 per cent to end at 3,829.24, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index sank 3.5 per cent to 13,119.43.

Tokyo stocks opened sharply lower on Friday with investors disheartened by Wall Street's retreat. The Nikkei 225 index was down 1.9 per cent to 29,599.48 in early trade, while the broader Topix index dropped 1.5 per cent or 29.14 points to 1,897.09.