Singapore shares open flat on Wednesday, in line with Wall Street

SINGAPORE share prices opened flat on Wednesday, with the Straits Times Index (STI) down a marginal 1.26 points or 0.04 per cent to 2,996.46 at 9.02am.

In the US, Wall Street offered no direction after a flat finish. The Dow ended Tuesday with a slight gain of 0.16 per cent, while the S&P 500 added 0.15 per cent and the Nasdaq eased 0.24 per cent.

In Asia, Tokyo shares opened 0.35 per cent lower on Wednesday as investors turned to profit taking after Japanese markets rallied in recent days. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange lost 69.25 points to 19,602.01 in opening trading, according to AFP.

Singapore's STI had finished 12.75 points or 0.42 per cent lower at 2,997.72 on Monday before the Deepavali holiday.

On Wednesday morning, telco Singtel was among the most active stocks after it said that it had outbid rival StarHub to win the Singapore broadcast rights to all English Premier League matches for the next three seasons. Its share price stayed flat at S$3.87. Some 3.8 million shares had changed hands by 9.02am.

Container shipping company Neptune Orient Lines was also on the list of the top 20 most active stocks, though its price was flat at S$1.055. On Sunday, it had confirmed that it is a takeover target of two companies.

Overall on the stock market, 81.8 million shares worth S$83.4 million changed hands, with losers outnumbering gainers 75 to 68 at 9.02am.