Singapore stocks open lower on Monday; STI down 1.1%

SINGAPORE shares fell in early trade on Monday, as investors turned cautious amid a resurgence of Covid-19 infections in the Republic.

The Straits Times Index (STI) fell 1.1 per cent or 34.07 points to 3,118.23 as at 9.01am.

Losers outnumbered gainers 139 to 49, after 71.45 million securities worth S$65.5 million changed hands.

Shares of Sembcorp Marine S51 : S51 0%were the most actively traded securities on Monday morning, with 12.9 million shares changing hands as at 9.01am. The counter fell 0.9 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to 11.4 cents.

For index counters, Thai Beverage Y92 (ThaiBev) and Genting Singapore G13 w : G13 0%ere among the top traded counters by volume on Monday morning. ThaiBev traded flat at 67 Singapore cents with 8.9 million shares changing hands as at 9.01am, while Genting Singapore fell 1.2 per cent or one Singapore cent to 81 cents with 2.8 million shares traded.

The trio of local banks were also trading lower on Monday morning. DBS D05 was down 2 per cent or S$0.61 to S$29.51, OCBC O39 fell 1.7 per cent or S$0.20 to S$11.87, while UOB U11 sl : U11 0%ipped 2 per cent or S$0.51 to S$25.58 as at 9.02am.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

In the US, Wall Street ended lower on Friday, weighed down by declines in Amazon, Apple and other heavyweight technology stocks, while investors worried about a rise in coronavirus cases tied to the highly contagious Delta variant.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9 per cent to end at 34,687.85 points, the broad-based S&P 500 lost 0.8 per cent to 4,327.16, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.8 per cent to 14,427.24.

European stocks fell on Friday as a slide in Rio Tinto's iron ore exports hammered mining majors, while strong earnings from luxury brands were overshadowed by concerns about their sustainability amid surging Covid-19 cases. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index reversed early gains to end lower for a third straight session, down 0.3 per cent to 454.74.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Monday, with the week cut to three business days as the Olympics is set to start. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 1.3 per cent or 376.08 points to 27,627.00 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 1 per cent or 18.28 points to 1,915.99.