Singapore shares decline at Tuesday's open; STI down 0.2% to 3,076.83

SINGAPORE stocks opened weaker on Tuesday, with the Straits Times Index heading down 0.2 per cent or 6.13 points to 3,076.83 as at 9.08am, as trade fears continued to weigh on global markets.

Beijing on Monday said it had lodged a complaint against Washington with the World Trade Organization, a day after new tarriffs imposed by US on billions of dollars of Chinese goods took effect. 

On the Singapore bourse, losers outnumbered gainers 63 to 50, or about five securities down for every four up, after 34.0 million securities worth S$46.0 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Rex International Holding gained 1.3 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.081 with 8.1 million shares traded. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings held firm to S$0.905 with 3.3 million shares traded. Keppel Reit moved up 1.6 per cent or S$0.02 to S$1.24 with 2.6 million shares traded.

Active index stocks included Singapore Exchange, up 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$8.21 on a cum dividend basis; ComfortDelGro Corp was down 0.8 per cent or S$0.02 to S$2.47.

Banking stocks opened weaker, with DBS Group Holdings down 0.5 per cent or S$0.11 to S$24.24; United Overseas Bank declining 0.6 per cent or S$0.16 to S$24.84; and OCBC Bank down 0.4 per cent or S$0.04 to S$10.59.

CSE Global rose S$0.015 or 3.4 per cent to S$0.455, on news that its indirect wholly owned subsidiary CSE Americas fully acquired the issued and outstanding membership interests of industrial power systems manufacturer Volta for US$25.1 million from individuals Bradley Davis and Julio Parpacen.

In the region, Tokyo stocks opened lower, with the Nikkei 225 index down 0.16 per cent or 33.23 points at 20,586.96 in early trade, while the Topix index was down 0.14 per cent or 2.09 points at 1,503.12. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.2 per cent. 

Europe shares closed higher on Monday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 up 0.3 per cent, while German shares ended slightly higher. The US market, meanwhile, was closed on Monday for a holiday.