Singapore shares open lower on Monday; STI down 0.2%

SINGAPORE equities began Monday (Sep 9) trading in negative territory, as global stocks ended lower last week. 

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) dipped 5.92 points or 0.2 per cent to 3,448.55. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 62 to 30, after 32.4 million securities worth S$21.1 million changed hands. 

Foundation and geotechnical engineering specialist CSC was the most actively traded counter by volume. The counter climbed S$0.002 or 28.6 per cent to S$0.009 after 9.6 million shares changed hands.

Other actively traded names included Singapore-based investment holding company Advanced Systems Automation, which rose S$0.006 or 30 per cent to S$0.026. Singapore-based entertainment group MM2 Asia gained S$0.002 or 12.5 per cent to S$0.018. 

Banking stocks were trading mixed at the open. DBS climbed S$0.02 or 0.1 per cent to S$36.55; OCBC shed S$0.10 or 0.7 per cent to S$14.53, and UOB was down S$0.03 or 0.1 per cent at S$31.43.

Wall Street stocks ended Friday lower as lacklustre US jobs growth signalled a slowing economy. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 1 per cent at 40,345.41, while the broad-based S&P 500 fell 1.7 per cent to 5,408.42. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 2.6 per cent to 16,690.83. 

In Europe, shares fell for a fifth straight session on Friday after a widely anticipated US jobs report offered mixed signals on the size of a potential Federal Reserve rate cut later this month. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index dipped 1 per cent to 506.56.