Singapore stocks fall at Friday's open after Wall Street retreat; STI down 0.4%

SINGAPORE shares opened weaker on Friday following overnight losses on Wall Street that were driven by a drop in technology stocks.

The Straits Times Index (STI) slipped 0.4 per cent or 11.09 points to 3,153.91 as at 9.03am. Losers outnumbered gainers 85 to 76, after 110.3 million securities worth S$69.8 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was Marco Polo Marine, which rose 4.4 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to 2.4 cents with 16.4 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded counters include CFM, which was up 1.7 per cent or 0.2 Singapore cent to 12.1 cents, with 8.6 million shares traded, and Trendlines, which rose 14.6 per cent or 1.5 Singapore cents to 11.8 cents.

Banking stocks were in the red in early trade. DBS lost 0.6 per cent or S$0.18 to S$29.64, UOB was down 0.4 per cent or S$0.10 to S$26, while OCBC declined 0.5 per cent or S$0.06 to S$12.36.

Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust slipped 0.7 per cent or S$0.02 to S$2.90, after its manager said on Thursday that the Reit will divest three logistics properties in Australia for a total of A$125.1 million (S$128.7 million).

Other active index counters include Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, which shed 1.3 per cent or S$0.02 to S$1.47, and the Singapore Exchange, which lost 1.1 per cent or S$0.11 to S$10.28.

In the US, tech stocks led equities lower on Thursday as investors shrugged off a batch of strong economic data ahead of the official May jobs report. Apple and Amazon dropped more than 1 per cent as the Nasdaq gave back some of the gains from the second part of May, falling 1 per cent to finish at 34,577.04.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1 per cent to 34,577.04, while the broad-based S&P 500 lost 0.4 per cent to 4,192.85.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Friday. The Nikkei 225 index fell 0.7 per cent or 210.35 points to 28,847.76 in early trade, while the Topix index declined 0.3 per cent or 6.59 points to 1,952.11.