Singapore shares tumble at Thursday’s open; STI down 1.4%

SINGAPORE stocks fell in early trade on Thursday (May 19) amid ongoing concerns over inflation and increasing interest rates.

Singapore's Straits Times Index headed down 1.4 per cent or 46.03 points to 3,179.32 as at 9.03 am. Losers outnumbered gainers 157 to 22, after 110.3 million securities worth S$117.3 million changed hands.

One of the most active counter by volume as at 9.02 am was Sembcorp Marine, which fell 3.1 per cent or S$0.003 to S$0.095, with 15.1 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded securities included Jiutian Chemical, which fell 1.9 per cent or S$0.002 to S$0.101 with 8.6 million shares traded, as well as Thai Beverage, which rose 0.7 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.70 with 7.2 million shares traded.

Banking stocks fell in early morning trade. DBS lost 1.7 per cent or S$0.52 at S$30.68, UOB was down 1.8 per cent or S$0.51 to S$28.38, while OCBC fell 1.3 per cent or S$0.15 to S$11.67.

Other active index counters included Singapore Telecommunications, which slid 2.2 per cent or S$0.06 to S$2.67 and Mapletree Commercial Trust, which dropped 2.2 per cent or S$0.04 to S$1.78.

In the United States, Wall Street stocks suffered through another brutal session on Wednesday after disappointing results from Target exacerbated worries about inflation and profit margins in a slowing economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dove more than 1,150 points or 3.6 per cent to finish at 31,490.07 as all 30 members of the Dow closed in the red.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 4 per cent to end the session at 3,923.68, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 4.7 per cent to 11,418.15.

Meanwhile, European stocks slipped on Wednesday led by technology stocks as worries about inflation and monetary policy tightening dampened optimism around China's economic recovery.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index slid 1.1 per cent after rising a little more than 3 per cent since Friday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo's stocks opened lower on Thursday after the battering on Wall Street.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped 1.8 per cent or 479.48 points to 26,431.72 at the open, while the broader Topix index lost 1.8 per cent or 33.69 points to 1,851.

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