Singapore stocks opened with minimal movement on Tuesday—STI up 0.04%

SINGAPORE: Singapore stocks opened with minimal movement on Tuesday morning following data showing higher-than-expected inflation figures for February.

The headline inflation, released on Monday, surged by 3.4% year-on-year, surpassing January’s 2.9% and economists’ median forecast of 3.2%.

Despite this inflationary uptick, experts anticipate the Monetary Authority of Singapore will maintain its current policy stance.

The Business Times reports as of 9:01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) saw little increase of 1.34 points or 0.04%, reaching 3,199.44.

However, the broader market witnessed more losers than gainers, with a ratio of 57 to 54. There were 43.3 million securities changing hands, with a total transaction value of S$35.2 million.

Notably, Seatrium saw significant trading activity, with its shares remaining steady at S$0.078 after 8.1 million securities were traded.

Among other actively traded stocks, Tritech Group maintained its position at S$0.011 despite trading 4.9 million shares, while Thai Beverage remained unchanged at S$0.485 after exchanging four million securities.

Banking stocks showed mixed performance at the opening bell. DBS gained S$0.10 or 0.3% to reach S$35.60, while OCBC edged up by S$0.02 or 0.2% to S$13.60.

Conversely, UOB experienced a slight decline, trading at S$0.08 or 0.3% lower at S$28.64.

Meanwhile, in the international market scene, Wall Street observed a dip on Monday, driven by increased regulatory scrutiny faced by European tech companies.

The Nasdaq Composite Index, dominated by tech stocks, fell by 0.3% to 16,384.47, while the S&P 500 also saw a decline of 0.3% to 5,218.19. Similarly, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 0.4% to 39,313.64.

Conversely, European shares hovered near record highs on Monday, buoyed by gains in energy stocks. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index experienced a slight increase of 0.04%, reaching 509.86. /TISG

Read also: Singapore stocks remained relatively unchanged on Monday—STI dipped by 0.01%

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