Singapore stocks open lower on Wednesday; STI down 0.9%

SINGAPORE shares slipped at Wednesday's open, tracking losses on Wall Street. The Straits Times Index (STI) was down 0.9 per cent or 26.96 points at 3,081.57 as at 9.02am.

Losers outnumbered gainers 90 to 42, after 95.3 million securities worth S$84.9 million changed hands.

One of the most active counters by volume was King Wan 554 : 554 0%, which saw 13.2 million of its shares worth S$750,000 traded as at 9.02am. Its shares tumbled two Singapore cents or 26.7 per cent to 5.5 cents.

Among index stocks, Mapletree Industrial Trust ME8U saw brisk trading, with two million units worth S$5.9 million changing hands. The counter was down S$0.03 or 1 per cent at S$2.87. Singapore Airlines C6L : C6L 0% was also actively traded, with 1.1 million shares worth S$5.5 million changing hands. Its shares were down S$0.06 or 1.2 per cent at S$4.98.

The trio of local banks were down in early trade. DBS D05 fell S$0.39 or 1.3 per cent to S$30.02, UOB U11 lost S$0.35 or 1.4 per cent to S$25.45, while OCBC O39 : O39 0% shed S$0.10 or 0.9 per cent to S$11.60.

Over on Wall Street, Tuesday was generally negative for equities as investors grappled with lingering worries about rising coronavirus cases. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.8 per cent at 35,100.00, the broad-based S&P 500 declined 0.3 per cent to 4,520.03, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.1 per cent to 15,374.33, its fourth straight record.

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European stocks closed lower on Tuesday as caution kicked in ahead of a European Central Bank meeting later this week, with a recent surge in eurozone inflation and improving economic data driving bets of tighter monetary policy.The pan-European Stoxx 600 index slipped 0.5 per cent after coming close to a record high in the previous session.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Wednesday as investors sought to lock in profits after recent rallies. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.3 per cent or 100.87 points to 29,815.27 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.2 per cent or 4.11 points to 2,059.27.