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

SINGAPORE shares opened lower on Wednesday. The Straits Times Index (STI) lost 0.3 per cent or 8.13 points to 3,179.10 as at 9.01am. However, gainers outnumbered losers 80 to 51, with 86.7 million securities worth S$72.2 million changing hands.

Index stock Genting Singapore was the second most actively traded counter by volume, with 12.3 million shares worth S$10.6 million traded within the first minute of market open. Its shares were at 86.5 Singapore cents, up 1.2 per cent or one cent.

Jiutian Chemical also saw brisk trading, with 10.3 million shares worth S$960,000 changing hands. Its shares lost 3.1 per cent or 0.3 Singapore cent to 9.4 cents.

QT Vascular was also actively traded, with 9.9 million shares worth S$60,000 traded as at 9.01am. The counter lost 14.3 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to 0.6 cent.

The trio of local banks were mixed in early trade. UOB was up 0.2 per cent or S$0.06 at S$26.37 in early trading. In contrast, DBS dropped by 1 per cent or S$0.30 to S$30.05 and OCBC fell 0.9 per cent or S$0.11 to S$12.45 as at 9.01am

Over on Wall Street, stocks closed mixed on Tuesday, little changed on the first trading day after the holiday weekend. This was amid renewed concerns about higher interest rates that offset strong manufacturing data and a rally in petroleum-linked shares.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 0.1 per cent to 34,575.31, the broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.1 per cent to 4,202.04 and the tech-rich Nasdaq closed down 0.1 per cent at 13,736.48.

European stocks ended at a new record high on Tuesday, as shares of big commodity companies enjoyed a boost from strong metal and oil prices and data showed eurozone manufacturing activity expanded at a record pace in May. The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.8 per cent in June's first trading session.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened mixed on Friday, following the latest US data and in anticipation of key jobs numbers due later in the week. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.3 per cent or 98.24 points to 28,716.10 in early trade, while the broader Topix index added 0.2 per cent or 4.47 points to 1,930.65.