Singapore shares fall at Friday's open; STI down 0.4%

SINGAPORE stocks started lower on Friday amid weaker openings from a majority of index counters and the listing of tech unicorn Nanofilm on the Singapore Exchange's mainboard.

Singapore's Straits Times Index (STI) headed down 0.4 per cent or 9.06 points to 2,441.62 as at 9.05am.

Losers outnumbered gainers 71 to 63, after 160.7 million securities worth S$343.6 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was newly-listed Nanofilm, which held steady at S$2.80 with 48.8 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded securities included Singtel which fell 1 per cent or S$0.02 to S$2.02 with 8.3 million shares traded and Sembcorp Marine, which dropped 0.8 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to 12.2 cents.

Banking stocks declined in early morning trade. DBS was down 0.6 per cent or S$0.12 to S$20.44, UOB fell 0.4 per cent or S$0.08 to S$19.03, while OCBC remained unchanged at S$8.46.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

Other active index counters included Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust, which lost 1.7 per cent or S$0.05 to S$2.95, as well as Keppel Corp, which was down 0.7 per cent or S$0.03 to S$4.24. The conglomerate turned the corner sequentially in the third quarter after posting record losses in the preceding period, it said on Thursday.

US stocks closed higher on Thursday, with the technology heavyweights rallying ahead of major earnings reports and upbeat domestic economic data calming investor jitters about surging coronavirus cases.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.5 per cent to 26,659.11. The S&P 500 gained 1.2 per cent to 3,310.11 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.6 per cent to 11,185.59.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Friday in cautious trade amid lingering worries over the outcome of the US presidential election and fresh economic stimulus.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.2 per cent to 23,276.31 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.6 per cent to 1,601.89.