Singapore shares open higher on Friday; STI up 0.6%

SINGAPORE stocks opened higher on Friday, with the Straits Times Index rising 0.6 per cent, or 22.61 points to 3,511.07 as at 9.03am.

This came despite US stocks ending mixed overnight, with the S&P 500 and the Dow inching up slightly, and the Nasdaq closing in the red.

On the Singapore bourse, about 54.2 million shares worth S$115.5 million changed hands. Gainers outnumbered losers 119 to 33.

The most actively traded counters were JEP Holdings which rose 7.9 per cent to 8.2 Singapore cents with 10.6 million shares traded; and Thai Beverage which was down 1.2 per cent to S$0.82, with 8.6 million shares traded.

Other active index stocks included OCBC Bank which was up 1.7 per cent, or 22 Singapore cents to S$13.32; and UOB which was up 1 per cent, or 27 Singapore cents to S$27.79.