[SINGAPORE] Singapore shares tumbled in early trade on Tuesday (Mar 11) morning, joining Asia-wide declines as US markets dropped deep into negative territory on fears over tariffs and recession risks.
The Straits Times Index (STI) fell 1.5 per cent to 3,839.812 as at 9.16 am. Across the broader market, losers severely outnumbered gainers 147 to 30 after 71.1 million securities worth S$142.5 million changed hands.
Local banking and other major stocks declined at the open, with DBS falling 2.2 per cent per cent or S$0.99 to S$44.86 with 1.1 million shares trading hands. OCBC was down 0.8 per cent or S$0.14 at S$16.91 as 743,100 shares swapped hands and UOB retreated 1.4 per cent or S$0.52 to S$38.15 with 275,300 shares being transacted.
As at 9.01am, offshore and marine specialist Seatrium dropped 2.4 per cent or S$0.05 to S$2.08, as 2.5 million shares changed hands. ST Engineering slipped 0.7 per cent or S$0.04 to S$6.02 as at 9.33 am, with 2.7 million shares being transacted, while Sembcorp lost 3.4 per cent or S$0.21 and fell to S$6.01 as at 9.34 am, as 1.6 million shares changed hands.
In other parts of Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbled more than 2 per cent in early trade, while Australia’s S&P/ASX index was down 1.4 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi dropped nearly 1.8 per cent.
The tech-focused Nasdaq suffered its biggest one-day loss since 2022, declining 4 per cent overnight to 17,468.32. The S&P 500 dropped 2.7 per cent, closing at 5,614.56 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.1 per cent to 41,911.71.
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The declines are an extension of losses that have been ongoing for the past few weeks, with the S&P 500 down over 8 per cent from its Feb 19 high and the Nasdaq at a more than 10 per cent decline from its December high, according to Reuters.
Likewise, European shares sank to their lowest in nearly one month, dragged down by losses of tech shares which investors dumped amid uncertainty around US tariffs. The pan-European Stoxx 600 Index dropped 1.3 per cent to 546.20.
Investors are fearing the impact of tariffs on the US’ major trading partners, such as China, Canada and Mexico. Donald Trump has also said the US economy is facing “a period of transition,” as he avoided addressing the possibility of a recession this year, Bloomberg said.
“The sharp sell-off in equities … continued as concerns over US tariff policy and government job cuts continued to weigh,” said ANZ Research.
“No let-up in uncertainty seems likely in the near term given reciprocal and other tariffs will be announced in April with more to follow in May,” it added.
