Singapore stocks fall at open, tracking global declines; STI down 0.5%

SINGAPORE shares opened weaker on Friday following overnight losses in the US amid worries over political uncertainty in Washington.

The Straits Times Index (STI) slipped 0.5 per cent or 15.47 points to 3,071.23 as at 9.04am. Losers outnumbered gainers 83 to 72, after 75.7 million securities worth S$67.4 million changed hands.

One of the most active counters by volume was Rex International, which rose 4.8 per cent or S$0.01 to S$0.22, with 6.2 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded securities include Hatten Land, which was up 3.1 per cent or 0.2 Singapore cent to 6.7 cents, with 4.2 million shares traded, and Oceanus, which was flat at 4.1 Singapore cents with three million shares changing hands.

Banking stocks fell in early trade. DBS eased 0.8 per cent or S$0.23 to S$30.09, UOB dropped 0.5 per cent or S$0.13 to S$25.72, while OCBC lost 0.4 per cent or S$0.05 to S$11.45.

Other active index counters include Singtel, which declined 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.45, and ST Engineering, which tumbled 1.1 per cent or S$0.04 to S$3.77.

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Over on Wall Street, stocks endured another round of selling on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.6 per cent to 33,843.33, the broad-based S&P 500 shed 1.2 per cent to 4,307.44, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.4 per cent to 14,448.58.

European stocks ended flat on Thursday. The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index closed 0.05 per cent lower, with miners rising 2 per cent but travel stocks falling 2.2 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Friday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 0.6 per cent to 29,264.90 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slumped 0.9 per cent to 2,011.99.