Singapore stocks start week on a muted note

Lenders such as DBS Group dropped 0.2 percent while Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp lost 0.6 percent.

sgx
SGX Logo. Reuters

Singapore stocks were little changed on Monday, as profit booking in stocks such as Jiutian Chemical and Rowsley was countered by gains in Singapore Telecommunications.

At 0550 GMT, the Straits Times Index fell 0.02 percent or 0.6 points to 3,313. It ended 0.64 percent higher on Friday, taking the year-to-date gains to 15 percent.

Lenders such as DBS Group dropped 0.2 percent and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp lost 0.6 percent.

Singapore Telecommunications rose 0.3 percent after it said on Friday it would launch its LTE-advanced network at selected outdoor locations across the city-state.

Chemical maker Jiutian Chemical fell 5 percent after previous session's 8 percent surge while Rowsely was down 2.3 percent.

In-flight catering service provider SATS shed 0.2 percent after its profit fell 10.6 percent in the first-quarter.

Among the gainers, Centurion Corp gained 2 percent after it announced its foray into the United States with a proposed acquisition of five student accommodation assets for S$187 million.

About 2 billion shares worth S$558 million changed hands, with losers outnumbering gainers 221 to 171.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks slipped with the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 0.2 percent.

READ MORE