Singapore shares open lower on Monday despite Wall Street record highs; STI down 0.03%

SINGAPORE shares started the week lower despite another record-setting US market session at Friday's close.

Singapore's Straits Times Index slipped 0.93 points or 0.03 per cent to 3,280.10 as at 9.05am on Monday.

Gainers outnumbered losers 71 to 38, after 169.8 million securities worth S$56.5 million changed hands.

Ntegrator International was the most traded counter by volume in the morning, rising S$0.004 or 44.4 per cent to S$0.013 after 30.8 million shares were traded.

Other actives included OEL (Holdings) which rose S$0.005 or 17.2 per cent to S$0.034 with 22.4 million shares changing hands, and GCCP which climbed S$0.003 or 33.3 per cent to S$0.012 on 13.9 million shares traded.

Index stock Singtel was the most actively traded by value on the Singapore bourse, slipping S$0.01 or 0.3 per cent to S$3.29 as at 9.05am.

It was a mixed bag among lenders. DBS rose S$0.01 or 0.04 per cent to S$26.36, OCBC was unchanged at S$11.20 while UOB edged down S$0.01 or 0.04 per cent to S$26.72.

Wall Street stocks again finished at records on Friday, capping a positive week of trade-related news and mostly solid corporate earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 0.2 per cent at 29,348.10, the broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.4 per cent to close at 3,329.62 and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.3 per cent to 9,388.94.

In Europe, shares also clocked a record closing high on Friday, after European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan struck a positive tone on talks with Washington and on optimism over signs of resilience in China's economy. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose as much as 1 per cent to 424.90, marking its best week since Dec 20.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.19 per cent or 46.64 points to 24,087.90 in early trade while the broader Topix index was up 0.35 per cent or 6.05 points at 1,741.49.