Singapore shares open Monday lower ahead of Trump inauguration; STI down 0.3%

SINGAPORE shares began Monday (Jan 20) trading in negative territory while markets abroad finished higher ahead of Trump’s inauguration.

As at 9.02 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) was down 0.3 per cent or 10.81 points at 3,799.97. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 67 to 48 after 25.4 million securities worth S$58.5 million changed hands.

Property developer OKH Global was the most actively traded counter by volume. It traded flat at S$0.026 with 2.2 million securities being transacted.

Other actively traded counters included Seatrium which fell 1.8 per cent or S$0.04 to S$2.23 and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust which rose 0.5 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.97.

The three local banking stocks were trading down at open. UOB fell 0.6 per cent or S$0.23 to S$36.80. DBS dropped 0.5 per cent or S$0.20 to S$43.65 and OCBC declined 0.4 per cent or S$0.07 to S$17.05.

Wall Street stocks rallied to a close on Friday as expectations for the Fed to bump up rate hike timings and magnitudes grew while investors anticipated policy changes under the incoming Trump administration ahead of his inauguration.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.8 per cent to 43,487.83 and the S&P 500 gained one per cent to finish at 5,996.66 as the two indices clocked their biggest weekly gains since early November. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.5 per cent to 19,630.2, its best since December.

European shares closed Friday higher following a broad-based rally driven by falling government bond yields and positive Chinese economic data as the Stoxx 600 made its longest winning streak in nearly five months since August 2024. The benchmark index posted its fourth consecutive week of gains, rising 0.7 per cent to 523.62.

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