Singapore stocks fall at Monday's open; STI down 0.3%

SINGAPORE shares eased at the open on Monday amid a weaker start to the week by the trio of local banks. The lower opening also follows a mixed performance on Wall Street and Europe on Friday.

The Straits Times Index (STI) slipped 0.3 per cent or 8.2 points to 3,075.6 as at 9.10am, according to ShareInvestor data. Gainers outnumbered losers 68 to 44, after 66.7 million securities worth S$26.6 million changed hands.

One of the most active counters by volume was Mercurius 5RF : 5RF 0%, which rose 3.1 per cent or 0.2 Singapore cent to 6.6 cents, with 18.9 million shares changing hands as at 9.04am.

Other heavily traded securities include Hatten Land PH0, which advanced 4.4 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to 2.4 cents, with 12 million shares traded, and Rex International 5WH : 5WH 0%, which gained 2.5 per cent or 0.5 Singapore cent to 20.5 cents, with 3.6 million shares changing hands.

Banking stocks started the week in the red. DBS D05 lost 0.2 per cent or S$0.07 to S$30.05, UOB U11 was down 0.1 per cent or S$0.03 to S$25.53, while OCBC O39 dr : O39 0%opped 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$11.61, as at 9.04am.

Other active index counters include Ascendas Reit A17U, which declined 0.3 per cent or S$0.01 to S$3.09, and ComfortDelGro C52 : C52 0%, which climbed 1.9 per cent or S$0.03 to S$1.62.

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In the US, the tech-rich Nasdaq ended Friday at a new peak but the other main Wall Street indices fell, after a disappointing US jobs report raised fears about the pace of economic recovery but weakened the argument for near-term tapering.

The broad-based S&P 500 dipped 0.03 per cent to 4,535.43, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2 per cent to 35,369.09. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.2 per cent to close at 15,363.52.

European stocks fell on Friday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index slipping 0.6 per cent, marking its worst fall in two weeks.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Monday as market sentiment improved. Investor focus was also on Japanese politics after Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced he will not stand for re-election.

The Nikkei 225 index rose 1.3 per cent to 29,508.63 in early trade, while the broader Topix index gained 0.9 per cent to 2,034.27.