Singapore stocks open weaker as Fed leaves rates unchanged; other Asian markets mixed

[SINGAPORE] Singapore stocks opened weaker on Thursday (May 8) following the overnight announcement by the US Federal Reserve that it will be holding rates steady.

While Fed chair Jerome Powell noted that the US economy had “continued to expand at a solid pace”, risks of higher inflation and unemployment had risen, which clouded the economic outlook further as the US central bank grapples with the impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.

Shortly after opening, the Straits Times Index (STI) was trading 0.2 per cent or 6.37 points lower at 3,859. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 104 to 33 with 80.4 million securities worth S$162 million traded.

The trio of local banks were mixed at the open. DBS bucked weakness across blue chips to rise 1.4 per cent or S$0.61 to S$43.37. Pre-market open, DBS announced first-quarter profit dipped 2 per cent to S$2.9 billion and declared a quarterly dividend of S$0.75 a share. UOB was up 0.4 per cent or S$0.13 at S$34.62, and OCBC was down 0.1 per cent or S$0.02 at S$16.25.

Notable real estate investment trusts (Reits) were among the counters traded down in active volume. These included Mapletree Logistics Trust which fell 3.5 per cent or S$0.04 to S$1.09, and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust’s 2.4 per cent or S$0.05 slide to S$2.05 on 7.7 million shares worth S$15.9 million changing hands.

Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust fell 0.8 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.19.

Among Asia markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 and the Hang Seng index were up marginally in mid-morning trade at 36,826.83 and 22,817.75 points, respectively.