STI down 1.04% early on Thursday along with other global markets

SINGAPORE'S benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) fell 1.04 per cent to 3,165.3 just half an hour into trading on Thursday morning. Losers outnumbered gainers 229 to 30.

This followed in the footsteps of US stocks which fell on Wednesday (early Thursday morning, Singapore time) on continued worries over the global economy and the spreading Ebola epidemic.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 173.45 points, or 1.06 per cent, to 16,141.74; the S&P 500 lost 15.21 points, or 0.81 per cent, to 1,862.49; and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 11.85 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 4,215.32.

Tokyo stocks, the first to begin trading in Asia, dropped 1.78 per cent on Thursday after the sell-offs on the US markets.

The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange lost 268.36 points to 14,805.16 at the start of its market day.

Malaysia stocks also opened lower on Thursday with the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index down two points to 1,784.84. Losers outnumbered gainers 281 to 22.