Singapore shares opened lower on Friday, tracking a mixed overnight performance on Wall Street as weakness in major US technology stocks dampened investor sentiment despite continued optimism surrounding artificial intelligence-related chip demand.
As at 9.04am, the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) fell 17.97 points, or 0.34%, to 5,200.99.
Market breadth was negative, with 53 gainers against 112 losers, while total trading volume reached 64.30 million securities worth S$116.12 million.
Among the STI constituents, DBS Group Holdings led the early declines, falling 0.56% to S$65.70.
Other actively traded blue chips were mixed. Keppel rose to S$11.16, ST Engineering traded at S$10.43, Singapore Airlines stood at S$7.68, OCBC Bank changed hands at S$24.84, Singtel was at S$4.39, while Thai Beverage traded at S$0.43.
The softer opening followed a mixed session on Wall Street overnight, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.14%, the S&P 500 ended nearly unchanged and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.46%.
Investor sentiment in the US was weighed down by declines in major technology stocks, with Apple tumbling 6.1% after announcing higher prices for its iPads and MacBooks to offset rising memory and storage chip costs. Nvidia, Microsoft and Alphabet also closed lower.
The weakness in megacap technology stocks overshadowed strong gains among semiconductor companies after Micron delivered better-than-expected earnings and an upbeat outlook, reinforcing confidence in AI infrastructure demand. Micron surged 15.7%, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index advanced 3.2%.
Meanwhile, fresh US economic data showed first-quarter GDP growth was revised up to 2.1% from an earlier estimate of 1.6%, while inflation remained above 4%, strengthening expectations that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates at least once before the end of the year.
In the derivatives market, SGX recorded an early trading volume of 20,170 contracts. FTSE China A50 Index Futures for June traded at 15,855 points, while MSCI Singapore Index Futures for July stood at 476.40.
