Singapore stocks slip at open following Wall Street retreat; STI down 0.2%

SINGAPORE shares opened slightly weaker on Wednesday following losses overnight on Wall Street, amid investor concern about how a jump in US inflation would affect monetary policy.

The Straits Times Index (STI) lost 0.2 per cent or 5.89 points to 3,160.92 as at 9.03am. Losers outnumbered gainers 80 to 63, after 84.9 million securities worth S$43.2 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was mm2 Asia 1B0 , which sank 11.1 per cent or 0.9 Singapore cent to 7.2 cents, with 25.7 million shares traded.

Other heavily traded securities include Leader Environmental Technologies LS9 , which rose 17.8 per cent or 1.3 Singapore cents to 8.6 cents, with 8.3 million shares traded, and Thai Beverage Public Company Y92 , which rose 0.8 per cent or 0.5 Singapore cent to 67 cents, with 7.4 million shares changing hands.

Banking stocks fell in early trade. DBS D05 was down 0.4 per cent or S$0.11 to S$30.22, UOB U11 fell 0.6 per cent or S$0.16 to S$26.11, while OCBC O39 lost 0.3 per cent or S$0.04 to S$12.11.

Other active index counters include Singtel Z74 , which advanced 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.30, and Singapore Airlines C6L , which dropped 0.4 per cent or S$0.02 to S$4.97.

In the US, stocks retreated on Tuesday after government data showed inflation continued to climb in June, overshadowing big earnings announcements from major banks.

The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.3 per cent lower at 34,888.79, the broad-based S&P 500 lost 0.4 per cent to end at 4,369.21, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.4 per cent to 14,677.65.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Wednesday. The Nikkei 225 index fell 0.7 per cent to 28,506.60 in early trade, while the Topix index lost 0.5 per cent to 1,957.01.