Singapore shares edge up at Wednesday's open; STI up 0.2%

SINGAPORE stocks opened slightly higher on Wednesday (Dec 29) amid thin holiday trading and mixed performance in global stock markets.

Singapore's Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.2 per cent or 6.08 points to 3,134.49 as at 9.05 am. Gainers outnumbered losers 84 to 46, after 49.1 million securities worth S$33.8 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was FJ Benjamin F10 , which rose 4.2 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.025 with 5.5 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded securities included Hatten Land PH0, which dropped 1.9 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.053, with 5 million shares traded, as well as Yangzijiang Shipbuilding BS6 which gained 0.8 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.33, with 3.6 million shares traded.

Banking stocks were mixed in early morning trade. DBS D05 was flat at S$32.75, UOB U11 edged up 0.1 per cent or S$0.02 to S$26.92, while OCBC O39 advanced 0.4 per cent or S$0.04 to S$11.46.

Other active index counters included Singtel Z74, which was up 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.36, and the Singapore Exchange S68 , which rose 0.8 per cent or S$0.07 to S$9.45.

In the US, stocks closed lower on Tuesday, ending a 4-day rally, as investors weighed Omicron-driven travel disruptions and store closures.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3 per cent to 36,398.21; but the S&P 500 lost 0.1 per cent to 4,786.35 and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.6 per cent to 15,781.72.

Meanwhile, European shares closed higher on Tuesday. The pan-European Stoxx 600 gained 0.6 per cent to close at a 5-week high at 488.50.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo shares opened flat on Wednesday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index slid 0.1 per cent to 29,055.06, while the broader Topix index fell 0.1 per cent to 2,002.95.