Singapore shares open flat on Thursday

SINGAPORE shares opened flat on Thursday, with the Straits Times Index (STI) down 9.13 points or 0.31 per cent at 2,972.46 in the early minutes of trading. A total of 42.3 million shares worth S$75.3 million changed hands.

Losers outnumbered gainers 90 to 55.

Elsewhere, Tokyo stocks opened flat as investors waited for fresh trading cues from Japanese GDP figures next week. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 46.74 points to 19,644.65 in the opening minutes of trade.

Overnight, Wall Street was hit by worries about US retail sales and sinking oil prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 55.99 points (0.32 per cent) at 17,702.22.