Singapore shares fall at Thursday's open after MAS tightens Singdollar policy

SINGAPORE stocks opened weaker on Thursday (Oct 14) after the Republic's central bank unexpectedly tightened its monetary policy settings.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) had cited "accumulating" external and domestic cost pressures at its half-yearly review on Thursday.

On the Singapore bourse, the Straits Times Index headed down 0.4 per cent or 12.73 points to 3,143.69 as at 9.03am. Gainers outnumbered losers 84 to 46, after 62.3 million securities worth S$68.9 million changed hands.

One of the most active counters by volume was Metal Component Engineering 5DX : 5DX 0%, which was up 2.1 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.049, with 5.5 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded securities include Oceanus 579, which gained 2.5 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.041, with 5.1 million shares traded, as well as CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust C38U : C38U 0%, which slipped 1 per cent or S$0.02 to S$2.09, with 3.5 million shares traded.

Nanofilm MZH rose 1.1 per cent or S$0.04 to S$3.68, after announcing it appointed Gary Ho Hock Yong as its new group chief executive officer, effective Jan 1, 2022. It also said it continues to see growth momentum for its businesses year to date.

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Banking stocks were in the red during early morning trade. DBS slid 1.1 per cent or S$0.32 to S$30.18, UOB dropped 0.9 per cent or S$0.24 to S$26.34, while OCBC lost 0.8 per cent or S$0.09 to S$11.75.

Other active index counters included Singapore Airlines, which was down 0.7 per cent or S$0.04 to S$5.50, as well as Singtel, which advanced 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.51.

In the US, stocks mostly rose on Wednesday (Oct 13) following a good showing from third-quarter earnings, shrugging off another round of data showing rising inflation.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index led the major indices, climbing 0.7 per cent to 14,571.64. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 34,377.81, while the broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.3 per cent to 4,363.80.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo's key Nikkei 225 index opened higher on Thursday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.4 per cent at 28,240.89 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was barely changed at 1,973.36.