SINGAPORE stocks were pulled into negative territory on Friday (May 24) following overnight losses on Wall Street.
The Straits Times Index (STI) headed down 0.4 per cent or 12.62 points to 3,310 as at 9.01 am. Across the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 88 to 44, or about two securities down for every one up, after 49.1 million securities worth S$66.7 million changed hands.
The most active counter by volume was Dyna-Mac : NO4 0%, which rose 1.4 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.375, with 3.1 million shares traded.
Other heavily traded securities included Seatrium : 5E2 0%, which slipped 1.3 per cent or S$0.02 to S$1.56, with 2.6 million shares traded, and Singtel : Z74 0%, which held steady at S$2.41 with 1.5 million shares traded.
Banking stocks fell in early morning trade. DBS : D05 0% was trading 0.4 per cent or S$0.14 lower at S$35.71, UOB : U11 0% declined 0.5 per cent or S$0.16 to S$30.39, and OCBC : O39 0% lost 0.3 per cent or S$0.04 to S$14.45.
In the US, stocks fell on Thursday following a rise in US Treasury bond yields. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.5 per cent to finish at 39,065.26, and the S&P 500 lost 0.7 per cent to 5,267.84. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.4 per cent to end at 16,736.03.
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European shares were muted amid signs of improving economic activity, prompting investors to scale back their expectations for interest rate cuts this year. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.1 per cent higher at 521.56.