SINGAPORE - Singapore shares started the week lower as oil prices surged the most on record after drone attacks over the weekend on a Saudi Arabian oil facility removed about 5 per cent of global supplies.
Brent futures jumped almost US$12 a barrel in the seconds after the open on Monday, the biggest intraday advance in dollar terms since they were launched in 1988, Bloomberg reported. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate contracts were frozen for about two minutes after the scale of the move delayed the market open, it said.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index edged down 9.61 points or 0.3 per cent to 3,201.88 as at 9.04am on Monday (sept 16).
About 75 million shares worth about $54.4 million changed hands, which worked out to an average unit price of about $0.73 per share.
Losers just edged gainers 62 to 61.
The most actively traded security was Rex International, which traded up $0.004 or 4.9 per cent at $0.085 with 25.8 million shares changing hands. Other actives included Sino Grandness Food Industry Group and GSS Energy.
Among financials, DBS was down $0.15 or 0.6 per cent to $25.41 and UOB lost $0.07 or 0.3 per cent to $26.34. OCBC rounded out early morning losses for lenders, down $0.04 or 0.4 per cent to $11.06.
Among other index stocks, Keppel Corp jumped $0.09 or 1.5 per cent to $6.31 while Ascendas Reit was up $0.01 or 0.3 per cent to $3.15.
In the other Asian markets, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.16 per cent as majority of the sectors traded lower with the exception of the energy subindex, which soared more than 5 per cent on the back of a surge in oil prices, CNBC reported.
In South Korea, the Kospi traded largely flat as shares of chipmaker SK Hynix plunged 3.75 per cent.
Markets in Japan are closed on Monday for a holiday.
In the US, stocks swung to a split finish on Friday, closing little changed as investors took a breather following an extended rally driven by hopes for a letup in the US-China trade war.
The Dow inched up 0.1 per cent to close at 27,219.52, about 140 points below an all-time high set on July 15 and short of the high point of the day. The broader S&P 500 turned negative, falling 0.1 per cent to end at 3,007.39, while the Nasdaq sank 0.2 per cent to finish at 8,176.71.
In Europe, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index and the eurozone only index closed about 0.3 per cent higher on Friday while tacking on more than 1 per cent for the week on the back of a surge in bank, miner and carmaker stocks.
