Singapore shares open flat on Thursday; STI down 0.2% to 3,242.14

SINGAPORE stocks opened 0.2 per cent lower on Thursday, with the Straits Times Index retreating 6.94 points to 3,242.14 as at 9.05 am.

Gainers and losers were mostly evenly matched with 48 advancing and 45 declining, as 29.8 million shares worth S$68.4 million in total changed hands, which worked out to an average unit price of S$2.30 per share.

The most actively traded counter was CapitaLand, which rose two Singapore cents to S$3.04 with 3.21 million shares changing hands. Other actives included Ezion with 2.29 million shares traded flat at 8.5 Singapore cents apiece, and ThaiBev with 2.25 million shares changing hands, down 1.38 per cent to 71.5 Singapore cents.

Active index stocks included City Developments (CityDev), which added three Singapore cents or 0.31 per cent to S$9.62, and Venture, which shed 44 Singapore cents or 2.64 per cent to S$16.23.

In US markets overnight, US stocks fell on Wednesday, breaking a four-session streak of gains after Washington's threat to impose tariffs on an additional US$200 billion worth of Chinese goods fanned trade war fears, while a sharp drop in oil prices hit energy shares.

Meanwhile in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Thursday, partly supported by a cheaper yen against the US dollar.