Singapore shares fall at Friday’s open; STI down 0.8%

SINGAPORE stocks began Friday (Nov 1) morning trading in negative territory, mirroring overnight losses in the global markets.

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) fell 28.72 points or 0.8 per cent to 3,530.16. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 83 to 50 after 117.9 million securities worth S$193.3 million changed hands.

Beverage maker Thai Beverage (ThaiBev) was the most actively traded counter by volume. The counter fell 4.7 per cent or S$0.025 to S$0.505 after 21.7 million shares changed hands.

Other actively traded counters included resort operator Genting Singapore, which rose 0.6 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.84, and telco giant Singtel which dropped 6.1 per cent or S$0.19 to S$2.94.

Banking stocks were down at the open. DBS declined 0.03 per cent or S$0.01 to S$38.65 and UOB dropped 0.6 per cent or S$0.20 to S$31.96. Meanwhile, OCBC fell 0.2 per cent or S$0.03 to S$15.16.

Wall Street stocks closed lower on Thursday, primarily driven by a sell-off in the technology sector. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.9 per cent at 41,763.46, while the broad-based S&P 500 shed 1.9 per cent to 5,705.45.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 2.8 per cent to 18,095.15 due to a sell-off in most tech giants following earnings from Microsoft and Meta that raised worries about the costs of artificial intelligence breakthroughs. Apple and Amazon fell ahead of their results, following big drops by Microsoft and Meta.

Over in Europe, shares saw a downward trend with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index notching its steepest monthly decline in a year.

The index closed 1.2 per cent lower at 505.39, falling to its lowest level since mid August, dragged down by bleak corporate earnings and as investors await more clarity on macroeconomic conditions and the US election outcome.

The Stoxx 600 notched a monthly decline of 3.4 per cent, with the technology and real estate sectors bearing the brunt of a selloff this month.