Singapore shares open lower on Thursday; STI down 0.4%

SINGAPORE stocks opened lower on Thursday, tracking Wall Street losses. The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) fell 0.4 per cent or 9.18 points to 2,471.96 as at 9.04am.

Losers outnumbered gainers 110 to 33, after 84.5 million securities worth S$63.5 million changed hands.

Among the most active counters by volume was Sembcorp Marine, which slipped 0.7 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to 15 cents as at 9.04am, with 14.2 million shares traded.

Also heavily traded were ComfortDelGro, which gained 0.7 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.47, with 2.7 million shares changing hands, and Thai Beverage, which was flat at S$0.59, with 2.8 million shares traded.

The three banks all fell in early trade. DBS lost 0.1 per cent or S$0.02 to S$19.87, OCBC fell 0.6 per cent or S$0.05 to S$8.40, while UOB slipped 0.4 per cent or S$0.08 to S$19.03.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority on Wednesday said it has partnered the trio to develop banking solutions, leveraging nationwide e-invoicing network InvoiceNow and the PayNow e-payment system. Separately, DBS and Keppel Corp on Wednesday said they will jointly explore new digital opportunities to meet customers' and suppliers' needs.

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Other active index counters include Wilmar international, which advanced 0.9 per cent or S$0.04 to S$4.42. The proposed listing of its China unit, Yihai Kerry Arawana, is expected to raise 13.9 billion yuan (S$2.81 billion), Wilmar said in a bourse filing on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Singapore Telecommunications fell 0.5 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.19, and the Singapore Exchange dropped 0.2 per cent or S$0.02 to S$8.96.

In the US, Wall Street stocks tumbled on Wednesday as a September sell-off resumed amid worries over a coronavirus second wave and an increasingly contentious US presidential election campaign.

European stocks rose on Wednesday, as a rebound in beaten-down travel stocks and gains for Adidas and other sports names took the edge off data that highlighted an uneven path for economic recovery in the eurozone.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Thursday, weighed down by the rout on Wall Street, but with a stable dollar-yen rate supporting the downside.