Singapore shares open lower on Thursday despite Wall Street rise

SINGAPORE share prices bucked the regional trend to open 0.8 per cent lower on Thursday, with the Straits Times Index down 23 points to 2,849.78 at 9am.

On Wall Street, US stocks scored solid gains for the second straight session on Wednesday on good private-sector hiring figures and continued momentum from dovish commentary from the head of the Federal Reserve.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 83.55 points (0.47 per cent) to 17,716.66. The broad-based S&P 500 rose 8.94 (0.44 per cent) to 2,063.95, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 22.67 (0.47 per cent) to 4,869.29.

In Asia, Tokyo shares followed suit, opening higher on Thursday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange rose 0.70 per cent, or 118.18 points, to 16,997.14 in opening deals, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares gained 0.50 per cent, or 6.83 points, to 1,363.12.

On Singapore's bourse, Thursday's most active counters were social networking firm YuuZoo (up 19.3 at S$0.235); real estate firm Cedar Strategic (up 100 per cent to S$0.004); and transport operator ComfortDelGro (down 1 per cent to S$2.92).

YuuZoo Corporation had on Wednesday said it signed an agreement with the Alibaba Sports Group to organise and run an e-sports tournament and manage e-sports club competition centres. Under the agreement, YuuZoo's China joint venture YuuGames will receive a "multimillion US dollar fee".

Overall on the stock market, 117.2 million shares worth S$215.1 million changed hands, with gainers outnumbering losers 71 to 68 as at 9am.