SINGAPORE stocks started trading in negative territory on Tuesday (Dec 31) morning, mirroring overnight losses in global markets.
As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) opened 0.4 per cent or 13.49 points lower at 3,782.24. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 69 to 15 after 33.6 million securities worth S$28.3 million changed hands.
One of the most actively traded counters by volume was entertainment group mm2 Asia, which tumbled 7.1 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.013, after 2.7 million shares changed hands.
Shares of SingPost were also briskly traded, rising 2.9 per cent or S$0.015 to S$0.535. Meanwhile, units of CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust fell 0.5 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.94.
Local banking stocks were all down at the open. DBS decreased 0.4 per cent or S$0.18 to S$43.67. UOB lost 0.4 per cent or S$0.16 to S$36.20. OCBC dropped 0.6 per cent or S$0.10 to S$16.60.
Wall Street stocks ended lower on Monday, in line with expectations of market watchers, who noted that the lead-up to New Year’s Day was typically a low-volume period.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1 per cent to 42,573.73, while the broad-based S&P 500 lost 1.1 per cent to 5,906.94. The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index plunged 1.2 per cent to 19,486.78.
In Europe, shares fell as still-high government bond yields pushed investors to pull out of equities. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.5 per cent lower at 504.85 points, with technology and health care leading broad-based declines.
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