SINGAPORE stocks opened weaker on Friday (Jul 19), following overnight losses on Wall Street and Europe, amid a sell-off on technology stocks.
The Straits Times Index (STI) headed down 0.6 per cent or 20.25 points to 3,450.91 as at 9.01 am.
Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 77 to 28, after 39.5 million securities worth S$56.8 million changed hands.
The most active counter by volume was Yoma Strategic, which lost 6.6 per cent or S$0.009 to S$0.128, with 8.3 million shares traded.
Other heavily traded securities included Thai Beverage, which was up 1 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.505, with 5.1 million shares traded, and Genting Singapore, which shed 0.6 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.855, with four million shares traded.
Banking stocks declined in early morning trade. DBS fell 1 per cent or S$0.36 to S$36.54, UOB was down 0.3 per cent or S$0.09 to S$32.61, while OCBC traded 0.8 per cent or S$0.12 lower at S$15.
In the US, stocks tumbled on Thursday, with most large tech shares retreating amid a broad-based sell-off. Energy was the only one of 11 industrial sectors to gain ground in the S&P 500.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.3 per cent to 40,665.02, retreating after three straight records. The broad-based S&P 500 was down 0.8 per cent to 5,544.59, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.7 per cent to 17,871.22.
European shares ended lower on Thursday. The continent-wide Stoxx 600 finished 0.2 per cent lower, extending losses to a fourth straight session.
