Singapore shares open higher on Wednesday; STI up 1.6%

SINGAPORE shares rose 1.6 per cent after the opening bell on Wednesday, with the Straits Times Index up 53.82 points to 3,460.2 at 9.02am as Asian markets appear set to recover some of the losses sustained in the global rout over the past days after Wall Street's overnight bounce.

About 135 million shares worth S$185 million in total changed hands as gainers outnumbered losers 200 to 20.

The most actively traded stock was QT Vascular, which rose S$0.001 to S$0.018 with 12.6 million shares changing hands.

Other actives include Midas, which added S$0.005 for S$0.197.

Among the biggest climbers in value were DBS, up S$0.69 or 2.68 per cent at S$26.41, and OCBC Bank, trading up S$0.19 or 1.56 per cent at S$12.41.

With the recovery on Wall Street, the Dow ended Tuesday 2.33 per cent higher, while the S&P 500 added 1.74 per cent and the Nasdaq 2.13 per cent.

In regional markets, Japan's Topix index rebounded 3.2 per cent as of 9.10am in Tokyo and the Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped 3.1 per cent.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index rose one per cent while Seoul's Kospi index was up 0.9 per cent.