Singapore shares open sharply lower on Friday; STI down 1% to 3,223.3

SINGAPORE shares fell sharply when trading began on Friday, with the Straits Times Index down 1 per cent or 33.41 points to 3,223.3 as at 9.04am.

About 42 million shares worth S$106 million in total changed hands as losers outnumbered gainers 86 to 43. 

The most actively traded stock was Metech International, which fell S$0.001 to S$0.002 with 75.1 million shares changing hands.

Other actives included Genting Singapore and Ezion Holdings.

Among active index stocks, DBS was down 1.2 per cent or S$0.31 at S$26.03, while Singtel was up 2.9 per cent or S$0.09 at S$3.16.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8 per cent to end at 24,356.74. The S&P 500 advanced 0.9 per cent to 2,736.61, while the Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.1 per cent to 7,586.43.

In regional markets, Japan's Topix index rose 0.7 per cent as at 9.07am in Tokyo. Meanwhile, South Korean's Kospi was up 0.1 per cent and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.2 per cent.