Singapore stocks slip at Friday's open; STI down 0.5%

SINGAPORE shares opened lower on Friday after ending the previous trading day past the 3,000-mark.

As at 9.03am, the Straits Times Index (STI) shed 15.13 points or 0.5 per cent to 3,002.02. Gainers outnumbered losers 90 to 67 after about 140 million securities worth S$93.6 million changed hands.

Among the index securities, the most heavily traded by volume was Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, which declined S$0.02 or 1.9 per cent to S$1.05 with three million units traded.

Shares of Oceanus Group climbed 0.1 Singapore cent or 2.1 per cent to 4.8 cents in early trade. The seafood supplier was queried by the Singapore Exchange upon its share price surge by 8.2 per cent to 5.3 Singapore cents on Thursday, but the shares ended the day at 4.7 Singapore cents - 0.2 cent or 4.1 per cent lower than the previous day.

Penguin International shares rose S$0.02 or 3.2 per cent to S$0.65 as at 9.03am. This follows the lifting of the company's trading halt called on Wednesday morning, after the company announced its possible privatisation led by its executive chairman, managing director and a Dymon Asia fund.

The trio of local lenders opened in the red on Friday. DBS fell S$0.19 or 0.7 per cent to S$26.26, UOB declined S$0.20 or 0.8 per cent to S$23.76, while OCBC shed S$0.12 or 1.1 per cent to S$10.62.

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City Developments fell in early trade by S$0.17 or 2.2 per cent to S$7.51 after announcing on Thursday that it expects to make provisions for a material impairment loss on its investment in Sincere Property.

Wall Street's S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices closed at record highs on Thursday, propelled by optimism about more pandemic relief under the Biden administration to support the economy after data showed a tepid labour market recovery.

The Dow was also poised for a record until falling into negative territory in the final minutes of trading to close lower at 12.37 points or 0.04 per cent, to 31,176.01. Meanwhile, The S&P 500 gained 1.22 points or 0.03 per cent, to 3,853.07 and the Nasdaq Composite added 73.67 points or 0.6 per cent to 13,530.92.

European shares however lost steam heading into the close on Thursday, weighed down by oil and real estate shares. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index ended flat after rising as much as 0.8 per cent earlier in the session.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower with a dearth of fresh market-moving factors following a rally in the previous session.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.6 per cent or 162.47 points at 28,594.39 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was down 0.6 per cent or 10.78 points at 1,849.86.