Singapore shares fall at Friday's open tracking Wall St retreat; STI down 0.62% to 3,360.22

SINGAPORE share prices declined at the start of Friday's morning session, after Wall Street shares pulled back from their record highs overnight amid the corporate earnings season.

The Straits Times Index lost 0.62 per cent or 21.04 points to 3,360.22 points as at 9.05am.

Losers outpaced gainers 73 to 59, after about 57.2 million securities worth S$89.9 million changed hands.

The most heavily traded by volume was AEM, which gained 2.63 per cent or three cents to S$1.17 after 4.5 million shares changed hands as at 9.04am. Golden Agri-Resources tumbled 3.23 per cent or one cent to S$0.30, with 3.5 million shares traded.

Suntec Reit lost 2.05 per cent or four cents to S$1.91 with 2.3 million shares traded at 9.04am. On Friday morning, it posted a 4.6 per cent drop in its distribution per unit (DPU) to 2.361 Singapore cents for the second quarter, amid lower convention revenue from Suntec Singapore.

Sabana Reit fell 1.09 per cent or 0.5 Singapore cent to 45.5 cents, with 2.3 million shares traded. The industrial property owner's second-quarter results were dampened by a loss of income from a recently divested property, absence of a one-time recovery of costs for another, as well as lower revenue and net property income (NPI) due to a challenging market.

Among banking stocks, UOB was down 0.89 per cent or 24 cents to S$26.74, while DBS lost 0.3 per cent or eight cents to S$26.83 as at 9.04am.

Ascendas India Trust gained 2.99 per cent or four cents to S$1.38 as at 9.03am. On Thursday, it posted a 28 per cent jump in its DPU for the first quarter to 2.05 Singapore cents, while NPI increased 13 per cent to S$37.8 million.

SingHaiyi Group slipped 3.16 per cent or 0.3 Singapore cent to 9.2 cents as at 9.04am. The property developer on Thursday posted a first-quarter net loss of S$8.2 million, compared to a profit of S$1.2 million a year ago. Revenue plunged 84 per cent, mainly due to lower revenue recognised for its completed private condominium project City Suites.

ST Engineering moved up 0.23 per cent or one Singapore cent to S$4.30 as at 9.04am. It announced on Thursday that its aerospace and electronics sectors secured new contracts worth about S$1.5 billion.

In the US, stocks retreated on Thursday from record highs, with several prominent companies including Tesla and American Airlines suffering bruising declines after their disappointing earnings reports.

Wall Street shares had been bolstered in recent weeks by expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week. But strong economic data, including Thursday's report showing an increase in durable goods sales in June, could lead to a less dovish Fed announcement, some investors worry.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Friday on profit taking, snapping a three-day winning streak.