THE Straits Times Index (STI) rebounded early on Tuesday to gain 3.23 points or 0.09 per cent and trade at 3.407.8 as investors awaited China inflation data and following a rebound in US markets.
A total of 47 million shares worth S$71.9 million changed hands as at 9am, with gainers outnumbering losers 86 to 37 right out of the gate.
The most active stocks were led by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings, up 0.4 per cent or half a Singapore cent at S$1.22 as at 9am. Lippo Malls Indo Retail Trust slipped 1.4 per cent or 0.5 Singapore cent to trade at 34.5 Singapore cents, while Noble Group was down 0.5 per cent or 0.5 Singapore cent to change hands at 99.5 Singapore cents.
China is expected to report inflation data at 9.30am.
THERE were no surprises as the local stock market kicked off the week on a weak note, with the Straits Times Index on Monday dropping 12.94 points to 3,404.57 in response to Wall Street's Friday plunge.
Turnover was about average by recent standards at 1.2 billion units worth S$1.2 billion. Excluding warrants, there were 144 rises against 287 falls.
The session opened with the STI falling about 30 points in early trading, erasing all of its Friday bounce. Thereafter the pressure eased and a bout of short-covering ensued that cut the loss to as little as 10 points, before a weak opening for Europe brought on renewed selling. However, the index managed to reduce its loss in the final seconds, prompting speculation that Wall Street just might stabilised on Monday.
Blue chips which contributed the most to the index's fall were Singtel and CapitaLand, whilst Noble Group's S$0.055 slide to S$1 also weighed on the index. Penny stocks in play included KLW, Unifiber, Advance SCT and Xpress.
Crude-oil futures kicked off a new weak of trading on a slightly downbeat note on Monday, on the heels of losses last week due to a stronger dollar and rising U.S. oil supplies.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in April CLJ5, -0.02% traded flat at $49.61 a barrel in the Globex electronic session. Brent crude for April delivery LCOJ5, -0.50% on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $0.25 to $59.48 a barrel.
