Singapore stocks slip at Wednesday's open; STI down 0.1%

SINGAPORE shares began Wednesday on a softer note, even with a positive lead from Wall Street overnight.

The Straits Times Index (STI) slipped 3.68 points or 0.1 per cent to 2,992.24, after flirting near the 3,000 mark on Tuesday. Gainers outnumbered losers 121 to 42, after 183.7 million securities worth S$73.3 million changed hands.

Among the index securities, the most heavily traded by volume was Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, which edged up S$0.01 or 0.9 per cent to S$1.07, with 1.4 million shares traded. Mapletree Industrial Trust units rose S$0.02 or 0.7 per cent to S$2.95, with 1.3 million units changing hands.

The trio of local lenders were down in early trade. DBS lost S$0.16 or 0.6 per cent to S$26.43, UOB dipped S$0.05 or 0.2 per cent to S$23.74, while OCBC shed S$0.08 or 0.8 per cent to S$10.56.

Mainboard-listed Nanofilm, which made its debut on the Singapore bourse last October, rose S$0.13 or 2.6 per cent to S$5.05, while CapitaLand slipped S$0.03 or 0.9 per cent to S$3.43.

Meanwhile, units of First Reit advanced 0.5 Singapore cent or 2 per cent to 25 cents. This comes after unitholders on Tuesday voted in favour of the proposed restructuring of the Lippo Karawaci master lease agreements, as well as the whitewash resolution waiving the right to receive a takeover offer from First Reit's substantial shareholder OUE.

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Over on Wall Street, US equities saw solid gains on Tuesday, as markets looked ahead to the presidential inauguration of Joe Biden, while his nominee for Treasury Secretary reiterated a call for aggressive stimulus spending.

Janet Yellen, the former Federal Reserve chairwoman nominated to lead economic policy, told lawmakers on Tuesday that help for the unemployed and small businesses would provide the "biggest bang for the buck", as she made the case for Mr Biden's US$1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief plan.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4 per cent to finish at 30,930.52, the broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.8 per cent to 3,798.91, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.5 per cent to 13,197.18.

European stocks slipped on Tuesday, with retailers, travel and banking counters leading the declines. After gaining almost half a per cent at the open, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index inched lower as the session wore on and lost 0.2 per cent to end the day.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Wednesday, supported by the gains on Wall Street. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index advanced 0.5 per cent or 142.64 points to 28,776.10 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.1 per cent or 1.66 points at 1,857.50.