Singapore shares open 0.3% down on Friday

SINGAPORE stocks opened 0.3 per cent lower on Friday, with the Straits Times Index losing 8.64 points to 3,346.07 as at 9am. This came amid mixed US markets overnight, with technology and transportation shares weighing down the S&P 500 on Thursday, but the Dow industrials setting a record closing high, helped by a jump in Verizon.

About 29.8 million shares worth S$42.7 million in total changed hands, which worked out to an average unit price of S$1.43 per share.

The most actively traded counter was Rowsley, which rose S$0.002 to S$0.123 with three million shares traded. Other actives included Addvalue Tech and Aspen.

The field was roughly evenly matched, with 66 gainers to 62 losers.

Elsewhere, stocks in Japan, Australia and South Korea were lower, while Amazon weighed on Nasdaq 100 Index futures, Bloomberg reported.