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Friday, November 27, 2020-9: 50 am
SINGAPORE shares struggled to advance at the open on Friday, with a holiday in the US overnight, meaning there are no new leads for investors.
The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) fell 7.21 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,850.27 at 9 a.m. M.
This comes as local stocks took a hit on Thursday, with an unexpected 0.9 percent year-on-year drop in Republic factory output for October weighing on sentiment.
On the Singapore Stock Exchange, winners outnumbered losers 55 to 45, after 32.4 million stocks worth S $ 25.4 million changed hands.
Among the indexed securities, the most traded was Thai Beverage Public Co (ThaiBev), which gained one Singapore penny or 1.3 percent at 75.5 cents, with 5.3 million shares traded. In a post-earnings conference call Thursday night, ThaiBev said it does not expect a big increase in sales in the coming months as the impact of the pandemic persists. That said, the beverage giant is looking to enhance its competitive advantage through a broader range of product offerings.
Bank stocks fell mainly in early trading. UOB fell S $ 0.10 or 0.4% to S $ 22.97, OCBC fell S $ 0.04 or 0.4% to S $ 10.03, while DBS remained stable at S $ 25.50 .
Other active stocks include the Mapletree Logistics Trust, which lost S $ 0.02 or 1 percent at S $ 1.95.
Meanwhile, medical technology company Biolidics soared 5.5 Singapore cents or 17.7 percent to 36.5 cents. This comes after the Catalist listed company said it has received a green light from authorities to distribute and use Covid-19 antibody test kits in Indonesia. In another presentation on Thursday, Biolidics announced that it will distribute rapid Covid-19 antigen test kits from Chinese biotechnology firm JOYSBIO (Tianjin) Biotechnology.
In the United States, financial markets were closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday.
European stocks closed little changed on Thursday as an extension of coronavirus restrictions in Germany and a dismal growth forecast for the UK returned attention to the short-term economic damage caused by the pandemic. The pan-European Stoxx 600 Index finished 0.1 percent lower, with gains in technology and healthcare offset by declines in auto and energy stocks.
Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened unchanged on Friday as a surge in new coronavirus cases in Japan weighed on the market. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index fell 0.01 percent or 2.9 points to 26,534.41 in early trading, while the broader Topix Index gained 0.2 percent or 3.84 points to 1,782.09. .
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