Singapore stocks dip at Friday's open; STI down 0.1%

SINGAPORE shares opened marginally lower on Friday even as Wall Street hit fresh records overnight.

The Straits Times Index (STI) slipped 0.1 per cent or 2.35 points to 3,219.23 as at 9.02am.

Advancers outnumbered decliners 70 to 67, after 136.9 million securities worth S$344.2 million changed hands.

Sembcorp Marine was the most actively traded counter by volume, with 22.5 million shares traded as at 9.03am. The counter rose 2.3 per cent or 0.5 Singapore cent to 22 cents.

Among index counters, Wilmar International was the top gainer. The counter gained 1.5 per cent or S$0.08 to S$5.38 in early trade. Meanwhile, ComfortDelGro was the top loser, falling 1.7 per cent or S$0.03 to S$1.73.

The trio of local banks were mixed in early trade. DBS was up 0.8 per cent or S$0.23 to S$29.62, OCBC rose 0.3 per cent or S$0.04 to S$12.16, but UOB slipped 0.3 per cent or S$0.08 to S$26.51.

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Over on Wall Street, markets closed at record highs following strong earnings from big tech firms.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7 per cent to finish at 34,060.36, the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.2 per cent to 14,082.55, while the broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.7 per cent to 4,211.47.

Over in Europe, shares ended lower on Thursday even as bank shares hit a 14-month high on strong quarterly earnings, as a rise in eurozone bond yields had investors locking in profits at near-record levels. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 0.3 per cent to 438.77, coming further off a record peak of 443.61 hit last week.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Friday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.4 per cent or 100.89 points at 28,953.08 in early trade, but the broader Topix index edged up 0.1 per cent or 1.06 points to 1,910.12.