Singapore stocks traded lower on Tuesday’s open—STI dropped 0.3%

SINGAPORE: Singapore stocks traded lower on Tuesday’s open, Dec 17, as investors waited for the US Federal Reserve’s rate decision. The Fed is expected to cut rates by 0.25 points during its two-day meeting starting Tuesday and outline its outlook for the year ahead.

The Straits Times Index (STI) dropped 0.3%, or 9.7 points, to 3,811.33 at 9.01 am, as reported by The Business Times. In the broader market, 52 stocks fell while 42 rose, with 27.3 million securities valued at S$53.3 million traded.

Wee Hur Holdings led in trading volume. It climbed 1.1%, or S$0.005, to S$0.48, with 5.6 million shares exchanged. Genting Singapore, another actively traded counter, dropped 0.7%, or S$0.005, to S$0.76. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding gained 0.7%, or S$0.02, to S$2.90.

Singapore’s three major banks traded lower as trading began. UOB dropped 0.3%, or S$0.12, to S$37.08. DBS slipped 0.1%, or S$0.04, to S$44.27, and OCBC dropped 0.4%, or S$0.07, to S$16.93.

In the US, Wall Street ended mixed overnight as investors weighed economic data ahead of the Fed’s decision.

The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.2% to close at a record 20,173.89, the second time it has closed above 20,000 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.3% to 43,717.48, while the S&P 500 rose 0.4% to 6,074.08.

In Europe, shares ended lower on Monday, dragged down by losses in luxury and energy stocks after weak economic data from China. French stocks also struggled following an unexpected credit rating downgrade by Moody’s.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index slipped 0.1% to 515.83 points, close to a two-week low, with auto stocks leading the decline by 2.8%. /TISG

Read also: Singapore stocks slightly rose as trading began on Monday—STI edged up 0.1%

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