Singapore shares open lower on Friday after Wall Street slips

SINGAPORE share prices opened lower on Friday with the Straits Times Index down 4.54 points or 0.16 per cent to 2,804.58 as at 9.01am, after US stocks slipped on Thursday on a mixed bag of corporate reports and another drop in crude prices.

Brent crude futures were down US$1.02 to US$40.05 per barrel, while US crude settled at US$37.84 per barrel, down 45 cents. Not helping things are European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi's Thursday comments that ECB deposit rates would not be cut further.

Some 69.3 million shares worth S$45.9 million changed hands in Singapore as at 9.01am on Friday, with gainers outnumbering losers 47 to 46.