SINGAPORE stocks opened flat on Monday (Dec 30) morning with a mixed showing from global markets amid light trading volumes with the New Year holiday approaching.
As at 9.03 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) edged up 0.03 per cent or 1.22 points to 3,772.85. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 56 to 46 after 51.2 million securities worth S$42.5 million changed hands.
Biolidics was one of the most actively traded counters by volume. It was trading 6.9 per cent or S$0.002 higher at S$0.031 with 4.6 million securities changing hands.
Other actively traded counters included Genting Singapore, which fell 1.3 per cent or S$0.01 to S$0.755 and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding which rose 0.3 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.94.
The local banks were mixed at open. UOB decreased 0.03 per cent or S$0.01 to S$36.01. DBS inched down 0.1 per cent or S$0.03 to S$43.52, and OCBC rose 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$16.53.
In Asia, shares edged lower on Monday as high treasury yields challenged lofty Wall Street equity valuations while underpinning the US dollar near multi-month peaks.
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MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.2 per cent, though it remains 16 per cent higher for the year. Japan’s Nikkei eased 0.2 per cent, but continues to sit on gains of 20 per cent for 2024.
South Korea’s main index was last off by 0.4 per cent, and is saddled with losses of over 9 per cent for the year, in light of more political uncertainty in recent times with Jeju Air plane crash at Muan International Airport on Sunday which killed most of the 181 people on board. This came two days after acting President of South Korea Choi Sang-mok stepped into his role.
Wall Street stocks tumbled on Friday as major companies witnessed their shares fall towards the end of the holiday week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.8 per cent to 42,992.21, while the broad-based S&P 500 slid 1.1 per cent to 5,970.84. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index also plunged 1.5 per cent to 19,722.03.
Over in Europe, most bourses closed higher, with Germany’s DAX rising 0.7 per cent, France’s CAC 40 adding 1 per cent, and Britain’s FTSE 100 ending 0.2 per cent higher.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed 0.7 per cent higher, hitting its highest level in a week and gaining about 1 per cent in a week, where trading volumes were below average and several markets were shut throughout the period. It clocked its first weekly advance in three on Friday, boosted by advancing healthcare and financial shares.
