Singapore stocks: STI resumes Monday afternoon down 0.63% on day

SINGAPORE stocks resumed trading on Monday afternoon in negative territory, with the Straits Times Index down 0.63 per cent or 20.41 points to 3,243.89, on the day as at 1.01pm, amid mostly weaker market performances in the Asia-Pacific.

On the Singapore bourse, decliners outnumbered advancers 200 to 134, after about 973.6 million securities worth S$492.5 million exchanged hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Rex International was up 3.6 per cent, or 0.7 Singapore cent to S$0.20, with 90.4 million shares traded, while AusGroup gained 6.1 per cent, or 0.2 cent to 3.5 cents, with 48.8 million shares traded.

Banking stocks also faltered by the afternoon trade - DBS fell 0.2 per cent, or six Singapore cents to S$26.55 on an cum-dividend basis, paring gains from the morning trade after news emerged that it posted a 15 per cent increase in Q3 profit to S$1.63 billion, beating the S$1.57 billion consensus forecast in a Refinitiv survey of five analysts.

Meanwhile, UOB lost 0.5 per cent, or 14 Singapore cents to S$26.18, and OCBC slipped 0.5 per cent, or five cents to S$11.08.

Other active securities included Ascendas Reit which held steady at S$2.89 on an ex-dividend and ex-rights basis, and Venture which was down 5.6 per cent, or S$0.92 to S$15.68.

Venture on Friday delivered a 5.5 per cent rise in net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, despite the headwinds from the US-China trade war, Brexit and currency volatility.

ST Engineering shares also lost 1 per cent or four Singapore cents to S$4.08, on news that it posted a 3.4 per cent rise in net profit to S$139.1 million for its third quarter ended Sept 30, from S$134.6 million a year ago. This was on the back of higher revenue for all sectors, and rises in net profits for aerospace and others.

In the region, Asian shares were on the decline on fresh violence breaking out in Hong Kong, along with remaining uncertainty over the US-China trade war.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down more than 2 per cent, while Chinese shares also faltered with the bluechip CSI300 index down 1.3 per cent.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.5 per cent, and South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.4 per cent.

However in Australia, shares rose 0.55 per cent to a two-week high.