Singapore shares fall at Monday's open, tracking global losses; STI down 0.8%

SINGAPORE shares started the week in negative territory on Monday (Nov 29), following a major sell-off in all global markets after a new coronavirus variant, Omicron, was found last week.

On Sunday (Nov 28), Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also said that Singapore is watching Omicron closely and may be forced to roll back the easing up of safety measures as it moves forward to tackle the disease.

The Straits Times Index headed down 0.8 per cent or 25.60 points to 3,140.67 as at 9.03 am.

Losers outnumbered gainers 106 to 71, after 125 million securities worth S$170 million changed hands.

Genting Singapore G13 : G13 0% was the most actively traded by volume at the open, down S$0.005 or 0.6 per cent at S$0.79 with 14.9 million shares changing hands.

Medical equipment supplier Medtecs International 546 was also actively traded, rising 18.8 per cent or S$0.075 to S$0.475, with 8 million shares traded. Glovemaker UG Healthcare 8K7 : 8K7 0% advanced 10.8 per cent or S$0.035 to S$0.36, with 5.7 million shares traded.

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The trio of local banks fell in early morning trade. DBS D05 lost 1.5 per cent or S$0.48 at S$31.09. UOB U11 dipped 1 per cent or S$0.28 to S$26.83, while OCBC O39 fe : O39 0%ll 0.5 per cent or S$0.06 to S$11.49 as at 9.04 am.

Other active index counters include Singapore Airlines C6L, which was down 3 per cent or S$0.15 to S$4.90, as well as ComfortDelGro C52 : C52 0%which was down 2.7 per cent or S$0.04 to S$1.43.

Over on Wall Street, US stocks skidded sharply lower on Friday (Nov 26), with the Dow and S&P 500 suffering their biggest 1-day percentage drops in months. The downward moves came after authorities worldwide reacted with fresh travel bans to countries where the Omicron variant has been detected.

European stocks also plummeted on Friday, suffering their worst day in 17 months. The benchmark Stoxx 600 index ended 3.7 per cent lower.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Monday, with the Nikkei 225 index down 1.3 per cent, while the broader Topix slipped 1.4 per cent.