Singapore stocks: STI resumes Wednesday afternoon at 3,217.50, down 0.03% on day

VOLATILITY surrounding trade relations remains the central theme in global equity markets, with Washington's move to ban US companies from using foreign telecoms equipment.

While the region's markets opened lower, most have since recovered. Singapore's benchmark index was trading at 3,217.50, down 1.07 points or 0.03 per cent, as at 1.04pm on Thursday.

The US's latest move, which market watchers see as targeting Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, adds another element to the already tense flare-up in trade relations between the US and China.

"If that's not an escalation in trade tensions, then I don't know what is," Oanda senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley said.

Shortly after the afternoon session commenced, volume on the Singapore bourse clocked in at 604.89 million securities traded and total turnover came in at S$389.4 million.

Across the market, decliners outpaced advancers 153 to 140.

BoardRoom Limited shares leapt on Thursday, after GK Goh Holdings' voluntary unconditional cash offer for the mainboard-listed corporate secretarial services firm, at S$0.88 per share. GK Goh intends to delist BoardRoom. BoardRoom shares were trading at the offer price of S$0.88, up S$0.11 or 14.3 per cent.

The benchmark index had 14 of the STI's 30 components trading in the red.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was the Singapore bourse's most traded stock, with 24.9 million shares changing hands. The shipbuilder was trading four Singapore cents or 2.7 per cent higher at S$1.50.

Singtel continued to slide after posting fourth-quarter and fiscal-year earnings for the period ended March 31. The telco was trading at S$3.12, down one Singapore cent or 0.3 per cent.

The local banks were mixed with DBS Group Holdings was trading S$0.24 or 0.9 per cent higher at S$26.34. Meanwhile, OCBC Bank was flat at S$11.19 and United Overseas Bank dipped S$0.09 or 0.4 per cent to trade at S$25.01.

Among regional markets, Australia added 0.5 per cent, China advanced 0.4 per cent, Hong Kong gained 0.2 per cent, and Malaysia was 0.2 per cent higher. Meanwhile, Japan fell 0.7 per cent, and South Korea, 1 per cent.