Singapore shares open lower on Monday; STI down 0.3% to 3,201.88

SINGAPORE shares started the week lower after ending up 2.1 per cent last week amid goodwill gestures in the US-China trade war. The Straits Times Index edged down 9.61 points or 0.3 per cent to 3,201.88 as at 9.04am.

About 75 million shares worth about S$54.4 million changed hands, which worked out to an average unit price of about S$0.73 per share.

Losers just edged gainers 62 to 61.

The most actively traded security was Rex International, which traded up S$0.004 or 4.9 per cent at S$0.085 with 25.8 million shares changing hands. Other actives included Sino Grandness Food Industry Group and GSS Energy.

Among financials, DBS was down S$0.15 or 0.6 per cent to S$25.41 and UOB lost S$0.07 or 0.3 per cent to S$26.34. OCBC rounded out early morning losses for lenders, down S$0.04 or 0.4 per cent to S$11.06.

Among other index stocks, Keppel Corp jumped S$0.09 or 1.5 per cent to S$6.31 while Ascendas Reit was up S$0.01 or 0.3 per cent to S$3.15.

In the US, stocks swung to a split finish on Friday, closing little changed as investors took a breather following an extended rally driven by hopes for a letup in the US-China trade war.

The Dow inched up 0.1 per cent to close at 27,219.52, about 140 points below an all-time high set on July 15 and short of the high point of the day. The broader S&P 500 turned negative, falling 0.1 per cent to end at 3,007.39, while the Nasdaq sank 0.2 per cent to finish at 8,176.71.

In Europe, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index and the eurozone only index closed about 0.3 per cent higher on Friday while tacking on more than 1 per cent for the week on the back of a surge in bank, miner and carmaker stocks.