Singapore shares decline at Friday's open; STI down 0.25% to 3,212.48

The Singapore Exchange Centre in Shenton Way. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - Singapore stocks opened lower on Friday (June 14), with the Straits Times Index losing 8.18 points, or 0.25 per cent to 3,212.48 as at 9.01am.

This came despite Wall Street stocks rising overnight, led by gains in oil and gas companies after an incident involving oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman boosted oil prices.

On the Singapore bourse, advancers and decliners were evenly matched at 48 each, after 29.4 million securities worth $41.4 million exchanged hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Netlink NBN Trust traded flat $0.845, with 3.6 million shares traded, while Oxley gained 1.6 per cent or 0.5 cent to $0.325, with 1.5 million shares traded.

Banking stocks were mixed in the early morning trade, with DBS advancing 0.5 per cent, or 12 Singapore cents to $24.80, while OCBC lost 0.3 per cent, or three cents to $10.74, and UOB dipped 0.1 per cent, or three cents to $24.72.

Other active index stocks included CapitaLand Commercial Trust which fell 1.4 per cent, or three cents to $2.05, and CapitaLand Mall Trust which lost 1.2 per cent, three cents to $2.57.

Heading into the end of the week, Asian stocks took on a mixed tune.

Japan's Topix added 0.2 per cent as at 10.30am in Tokyo, and South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.3 per cent, data from Bloomberg shows.

Hong Kong stocks remained under pressure with the Hang Seng Index losing 0.4 per cent. Hong Kong protest leaders plan to hold another mass demonstration on Sunday against the controversial extradition bill.

Meanwhile, Australian stocks were little changed, and China's Shanghai Composite Index inched up 0.2 per cent. Within Asia, the spotlight will largely be on China, which is set to release data for May including fixed asset investment, retail sales, surveyed jobless rate, and property investment at 3pm on Friday.

In a research note on Friday morning, UOB also noted that market attention will be fixated on the rising geopolitical tension in the Middle East, and oil price developments following the oil tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, while the focus of the G-7 data docket returns to the US, with the key data releases of May retail sales and industrial production among others.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 0.4 per cent to US$52.06 a barrel, while gold was flat at US$1,343.90 an ounce.

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