Singapore shares open lower on Wednesday, STI down 0.2% to 3,533.9

SINGAPORE stocks opened lower on Wednesday, with the Straits Times Index retreating 6.33 points, or 0.2 per cent to 3,533.9 as at 9.01am.

This came after US stocks closed sharply lower overnight, with all three major indices posting declines for the first time in days, as fears of inflation returned to the market.

On the Singapore bourse, losers outnumbered gainers 78 to 45, after about 51.1 million shares worth S$96.7 million changed hands.

The most actively traded counter by volume was Rich Capital Holdings, which was flat at 1.1 Singapore cents with 6.4 million shares traded.

Othe active index stocks included DBS which was down by 0.7 per cent to S$28.69; Singtel which fell 0.6 per cent to S$3.41.

Elsewhere, Japan's Topix index also fell 0.2 per cent, and Seoul's Kospi index fell 0.4 per cent, Bloomberg reported.

Meanwhile, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index bucked the trend to rise by 0.1 per cent in the early morning trade.