Singapore stocks: STI resumes Monday afternoon at 3,208.27, down 0.1% on day

SINGAPORE stocks opened lower as trading resumed on Monday afternoon, with the Straits Times Index moving down 0.10 per cent or 3.22 points to 3,208.27 as at 1.03pm.

Losers outnumbered gainers 171 to 133, or about nine securities down for every seven up, after 589.3 million securities worth S$349.0 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Rex International Holding headed up 7.4 per cent or S$0.006 to S$0.087 with 71.5 million shares traded. Sino Grandness Food Industry Group stayed unchanged at S$0.052 with 31.8 million shares traded. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings headed down 0.9 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.11 with 28.4 million shares traded.

Active index stocks included Keppel Corp, up 1.0 per cent or S$0.06 to S$6.28, on the back of news that Keppel DC Reit is planning to raise an estimated S$473.8 million to partially pay for the acquisition of two data centres, one of which Keppel Infrastructure Trust (KIT) has a 51 per cent stake in.

Meanwhile, Genting Singapore was up 0.6 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.905; and CapitaLand Commercial Trust was up 1.9 per cent or S$0.04 to S$2.14.

Banking stocks opened mixed, with DBS Group Holdings down 0.3 per cent or S$0.08 to S$25.48; United Overseas Bank, down 0.2 per cent or S$0.06 to S$26.35; and OCBC Bank, up 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$11.11.

In other Asia Pacific markets, China stocks opened mixed following weak economic data which reinforced hopes Beijing would roll out more stimulus amidst the US-China trade war landscape.

The CSI300 index dropped 0.2 per cent, to 3,965.40 at the end of the Monday morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.1 per cent, to 3,034.41. The Shenzhen Composite Index added 0.35 per cent, or 5.89 points, to 1,687.12

Hong Kong stocks also opened weaker in the midst of protest violence, with the Hang Seng Index easing 0.69 per cent, or 189.85 points, to 27,162.84.

In the Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index was 0.03 per cent or 1.9 points lower at 6,667.30 by 0256 GMT. Meanwhile in New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index edged up 0.2 per cent or 17.8 points lower to 10,845.65.

CMC Markets analyst Margaret Yang noted the "risk off sentiment" prevailing after the Saudi Arabia oil field attacks, which sparked a new round of profit taking in global equities, due to rising geopolitical risk and higher energy prices.

She added that investors and traders woke up on Monday seeing crude oil prices jump over 10 per cent after two core oil fields in Saudi Arabia had been attacked by coordinated drones over the weekend - a move expected to slash global crude oil supply by 5 per cent and cause supply shortage and rising geopolitical uncertainty.

"The attack revealed the fragility of key infrastructure facilities against rising technology such as weaponised drones. How the United States and Saudi Arabia deal with the situation will be closely watched," Ms Yang added.