Singapore shares open down on Friday; STI down 1.4% to 3,280.88

SINGAPORE shares opened 1.4 per cent lower on Friday, with the Straits Times Index retreating 45.86 points to 3,280.88 as at 9.04am.

Losers outnumbered gainers 80 to 59, as some 73 million shares worth S$210.2 million in total changed hands.

The most actively traded counter was Ezion with 9.81 million shares traded, rising 2.74 per cent to 7.5 Singapore cents. Other actives included CapitaLand with 7.73 million shares traded, down 1.21 per cent to S$3.26, and Singtel with 6.19 million shares traded, down 1.25 per cent to S$3.16.

Counters for the three local banks were down on Friday morning. DBS Bank inched down 1.81 per cent, or 47 Singapore cents, to S$25.53, while OCBC Bank retreated 2.75 per cent, or 33 Singapore cents, to S$11.67. UOB slipped 1.34 per cent, or 38 Singapore cents, to S$27.96.

In Tokyo, stocks opened slightly lower on Friday as investors awaited the outcome of US-Japan trade talks while shrugging off solid Japan growth data.

Overnight in US markets, Tesla shares tumbled on Thursday following a report the company faces intensifying scrutiny from securities regulators as US stocks finished a quiet session mostly lower.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.3 per cent to 25,509.23.

The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.1 per cent to 2,853.58, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added less than 0.1 per cent to 7,891.78.