Singapore equities rise at Friday's open; STI up 0.1%

SINGAPORE stocks opened higher on Friday (Jan 28) morning despite US stocks' rally fizzling over inflation and tightening monetary policy fears.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.1 per cent or 2.01 points to 3,262.04 as at 9.01 am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 56 to 41 as 21.3 million securities worth S$82.7 million changed hands.

New counter Alpina Holdings was among the most actively traded by volume, with 1.6 million shares changing hands. Shares of the integrated building services provider, which joined the Catalist board at 9 am today, were trading flat at S$0.32.

Sembcorp Marine shares were also heavily traded. The offshore and marine company's securities were trading flat at S$0.082 with 1.4 million shares moving.

Units of Mapletree Industrial Trust were also among the most active at 9.01 am. The real estate investment trust's shares were trading down 0.8 per cent or S$0.02 at S$2.51.

Index counter Keppel Corp had 1.2 million shares changing hands in early trade. Shares of the conglomerate, which posted a 6-year high FY2021 profit on Thursday, jumped 4.2 per cent or S$0.22 to S$5.51.

The 3 local banks were mixed on Friday morning. DBS shares slipped 0.5 per cent or S$0.18 to S$35.08 after the group announced it would be buying the consumer banking business of Citigroup in Taiwan. UOB shares also dropped in early trade, down 0.3 per cent or S$0.08 at S$30.05. Meanwhile, OCBC was up 0.2 per cent or S$0.02 at S$12.40.

In the US, Wall Street stocks fell again on Thursday after an early rally fizzled as investors worried over inflation and tightening monetary policy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down by just a few points at 34,160.78, but that was a drop of more than 600 points compared with earlier in the day.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.5 per cent to close at 4,326.51, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.4 per cent to 13,352.78.

Meanwhile, European shares shrugged off a weak start to the session to end higher on Thursday. The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.7 per cent, with most major regional markets reversing course to end the day higher.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo shares opened higher on Friday, rebounding from sharp losses in the previous session. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 1.2 per cent or 307.38 points to 26,477.68 in early trade, while the broader Topix index added 1.2 per cent or 21.88 points to 1,864.32.