Singapore shares decline at Monday's open; STI down 0.36% to 3,354.57

SINGAPORE stocks opened lower on Monday, with the Straits Times Index moving down 0.36 per cent or 12.24 points to 3,354.57 as at 9.02am, tracking weaker performance in Asia following Wall Street's retreat on Friday.

Gainers and losers were evenly matched, with 56 securities down to 54 up after 39.0 million securities worth S$44.5 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, watch-listed Global Invacom Group increased 3.6 per cent or S$0.004 to S$0.114 with 5.3 million shares traded. Tritech Group slipped 3.2 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.03 with 3.6 million shares traded. LionGold Corp stayed flat at S$0.001 with 2.0 million shares traded.

Active index stocks included DBS Group Holdings, down 0.8 per cent or S$0.20 to S$25.43; Singtel, down 0.8 per cent or S$0.03 to S$3.53 on a cum-dividend basis; CapitaLand Commercial Trust, down 1.7 per cent or S$0.04 to S$2.26.

In other Asia markets, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.35 per cent or 76.43 points at 21,669.95 in early trade, while the Topix index was down 0.25 per cent or 3.99 points at 1,588.59.

On Wall Street, the Dow ended down 0.2 per cent at 26,922.12, amid better-than-expected US job data, which shook investors' hopes for steep cuts in interest rates in the world's biggest economy.