Singapore stocks open higher on Monday

SINGAPORE stocks opened higher on Monday following gains on Wall Street last Friday. As at 9.06 am, the benchmark Straits Times Index was up 2.73 points or 0.09 per cent at 3,125.07.

On Wall Street, stocks finished slightly higher on Friday after Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen signalled that an interest rate hike was likely this month if current economic conditions hold.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the session up a hair at 21,005.36. The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.1 per cent to end at 2,383.10, and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.2 per cent to 5,870.75.

On Singapore's bourse, some 144.4 million shares worth S$66.9 million changed hands, with gainers outnumbering losers 99 to 62.

The highest value-traded stocks by 9.06 am were precision machined components firm Spindex Industries, up eight cents to S$0.93; property developer Hongkong Land, up three cents to S$6.87; and commodity firm Noble, up half a cent to S$0.23. Spindex is in the middle of a takeover process which could result in a possible three-way tussle.