Singapore shares open lower on Monday amid US-Iran tensions; STI down 0.49%

SINGAPORE shares declined at Monday's open as worries over US-Iran tensions weighed on market sentiment. The Straits Times Index lost 0.49 per cent or 15.73 points to 3,223.09 points as at 9.03am.

Losers outnumbered gainers 93 to 36, after about 57.7 million securities worth S$61.2 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded were AusGroup, which rose 9.8 per cent or 0.4 Singapore cent to S$0.045 on 11.4 million shares traded. Interra Resource gained 3 per cent or 0.3 cent to S$0.102 after 2.6 million shares changed hands, while Addvalue Tech shares fell 3.2 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to S$0.03 with 2.5 million shares traded.

Banking stocks started the morning in the red. DBS lost 0.5 per cent or 12 Singapore cents to S$25.88, UOB fell 0.9 per cent or 23 Singapore cents to S$26.40, and OCBC dropped 0.8 per cent or nine Singapore cents to S$10.93.

Other active index securities included Singtel which lost 0.3 per cent or one Singapore cent to S$3.36, and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding which lost 0.9 per cent or one Singapore cent to S$1.16.

Tokyo stocks dropped on Monday, catching up to global risk aversion after US's killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 1.67 per cent to 23,261.91 in early trade, while the Topix index fell 1.31 per cent to 1,698.74.