Singapore stocks open lower on Thursday, STI down 0.4%

SINGAPORE stocks opened lower on Thursday, amid mixed trading in stocks in the region and the US, and the listing of Credit Bureau Asia on the Singapore Exchange's mainboard.

The Straits Times Index (STI) was down 12.14 points or 0.4 per cent to 2,798.81 as at 9.01am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 68 to 49, after 67.9 million securities worth S$52.9 million changed hands.

Credit Bureau Asia made its trading debut on Thursday morning, with shares trading at S$1.11 as at 9.01am, with 2.1 million shares changing hands.

The share price represents an increase of S$0.18 or 19.4 per cent from its S$0.93 initial public offering (IPO) price. The credit and risk information solutions provider said on Wednesday that it received applications from retail investors for 60.8 times the number of shares available in the public portion of its IPO.

Other active counters in morning trade include Singtel, which fell 1.7 per cent or S$0.04 to S$2.28 as at 9.01am, with 4.5 million shares worth S$10.2 million changing hands.

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The trio of local banks were trading mostly lower at the open. DBS shares were down S$0.19 or 0.8 per cent to S$25.13, while OCBC shares were down S$0.05 or 0.5 per cent to S$10 as at 9.01am. UOB shares were unchanged at S$22.75.

Geo Energy Resources shares were trading up on Thursday morning, rising 6.4 per cent or 0.8 Singapore cent to 13.3 cents. The company said on Wednesday evening that it has reached the minimum threshold for its coal reserves, and will not have to make a mandatory offer to purchase US$59.2 million worth of outstanding 8 per cent senior notes.

Wall Street stocks finished a choppy session mostly higher on Wednesday as investors weighed signs of economic weakness caused by rising Covid-19 cases against further progress on vaccines.

After opening lower, the S&P 500 pushed to a second straight record at 3,669.01, up 0.2 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2 per cent to 29,883.79, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.1 per cent to 12,349.37.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo's key Nikkei 225 index opened lower on Thursday slipping down 0.18 per cent or 47.46 points to 26,753.52 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.10 per cent or 1.71 points at 1,775.68.

In Australia, the ASX 200 was up 0.3 per cent in morning trade to 6,612.4 points.