Singapore stocks: STI resumes Friday afternoon down 0.1% on day

SINGAPORE stocks resumed trading on Friday afternoon slightly down, with the Straits Times Index declining 0.1 per cent or 2.38 points on the day to 3,196.30 as at 1.02pm.

Decliners outnumbered advancers 168 to 140, after about 826.2 million securities worth S$522.7 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding gained 1 per cent, or S$0.01 to S$1.05, with 20.5 million shares traded. Singtel fell 0.3 per cent or S$0.01 to S$3.12, with 15.3 million shares traded.

Banking stocks were mixed by afternoon trade. DBS gained 0.4 per cent or $0.10 to S$25.20 on a cum-dividend basis, UOB lost 0.3 per cent or S$0.08 to S$25.79 on a cum-dividend basis, while OCBC rose 0.3 per cent or S$0.03 to S$11.07 on a cum-dividend basis.

Other active securities included ComfortDelGro which dropped 1 per cent or S$0.02 to S$2.03 and Wilmar International which shed 2.2 per cent or S$0.09 to S$4.13 on a cum-dividend basis.

Elsewhere in the region, Australian shares retreated on Friday on mounting coronavirus concerns. The S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.2 per cent at 7,148.4, as at 0015 GMT. In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index lost 0.1 per cent to 12,047.7.

In Hong Kong, stocks opened lower on Friday, the Hang Seng Index fell 0.6 per cent to 27,450.46 in early trade, the Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.3 per cent to 3,022.25, while the Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China's second exchange, dropped 0.1 per cent to 1,884.74.