Singapore stocks fall at Wednesday's open; STI slips 0.1%

SINGAPORE shares opened slightly lower on Wednesday, tracking losses on Wall Street. The Straits Times Index (STI) lost 0.1 per cent or 1.62 points to 3,173.25 as at 9.01am. However, gainers outnumbered losers 73 to 59, with 96 million securities worth S$65.6 million changing hands.

Sembcorp Marine was the most actively traded counter by volume, with 26.7 million shares worth S$5.3 million traded as at 9.01am. Its shares declined 0.5 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to 19.9 cents.

China Environmental Resources also saw brisk trading, with 9.3 million shares worth S$150,000 changing hands within the first minute of market open. Its shares gained 6.7 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to 1.6 cents.

Index stock Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (Ascendas Reit) was also actively traded, with one million units worth S$3 million traded as at 9.01am. The counter was down 0.7 per cent or S$0.02 to S$2.98.

On Tuesday evening, the Reit's manager announced the issue of about 2.5 million units in Ascendas Reit at an issue price of S$2.9313 per unit to Ascendas Land International (Investments) (ALII). This was for the payment of 20 per cent of the base management fee for Dec 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021, where ALII was an entity nominated by the manager to receive in its place. Both the manager and ALII are wholly owned subsidiaries of CapitaLand.

In a separate announcement on Tuesday evening, the Reit's manager also said that it has utilised S$175 million or 41.7 per cent of the gross proceeds from the private placement of some 142.7 million new units of Ascendas Reit for debt repayment purposes.

The trio of local banks were higher in early trade. DBS gained 0.2 per cent or S$0.07 to S$30.14 in early trading, OCBC rose 0.2 per cent or S$0.03 to S$12.36 and UOB gained 0.2 per cent or S$0.05 to S$26.16 as at 9.01am.

Over on Wall Street, stocks subsided from Monday's record highs on Tuesday to end lower, after data, indicating a bumpy US recovery, showed higher inflation and lacklustre retail sales. This came as the Federal Reserve began a two-day monetary policy meeting that will culminate with an announcement of its next steps on Wednesday. Meanwhile, petroleum-linked shares rallied with oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3 per cent to 34,299.33, the broad-based S&P 500, which marked a record high on Monday, ended its gains streak to close 0.2 per cent down at 4,246.59, and the tech-rich Nasdaq fell 0.7 per cent from its record high to end the day at 14,072.86.

European stocks ended Tuesday slightly higher after an eighth straight session of gains, driven by optimism over economic recovery, but these were limited as investors hunkered down ahead of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 0.1 per cent in a new record-high close of 458.81 points, also marking its longest winning streak in more than two years.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks tracked Wall Street to open lower on Wednesday, as investors held back ahead of the US Federal Reserve meeting. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.4 per cent or 104.66 points to 29,336.64 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slid 0.1 per cent or 1.80 points to 1,973.68.