Singapore shares open 0.1% up on Friday

SINGAPORE stocks opened 0.1 per cent higher on Friday, with the Straits Times Index rising 2.69 points to 3,345.61 as at 9 am, on the back of mixed US markets overnight.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq fell on Thursday, weighed down by Amazon, Apple and other technology stocks, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up to a seventh straight record high. Investors are watching economic data for clues on the health of the US economy ahead of the keenly awaited US jobs data to be released on Friday. Analysts suggest that the US added 181,000 jobs in July and that the unemployment rate ticked down a 10th to 4.3 per cent.

On the Singapore bourse, about 34.7 million shares worth S$57 million in total changed hands, which worked out to an average unit price of S$1.64 per share.

The most actively traded counter was Addvalue Tech, which rose S$0.001 to S$0.050 with 3.6 million shares changing hands. Other actives included Genting Sing and Ying Li International.

Gainers outnumbered losers 66 to 59, or about nine up for every eight down.

Elsewhere, Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.4 per cent on a stronger yen, while South Korea's Kospi which closed at a three-and-a-half-week low on Thursday, recovered 0.3 per cent, Reuters reported.