Singapore shares edge up on Wednesday; STI up 0.3%

SINGAPORE stocks opened higher on Wednesday morning, despite stocks on Wall Street declining overnight.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.3 per cent or 8.20 points to 3,199.09 at 9.01am. Gainers outnumbered losers 73 to 45 with 66.9 million shares worth S$178.4 million changing hands.

Singapore Press Holdings was the most actively traded counter with 11.8 million shares worth S$18.4 million traded within the first two minutes. The counter rose 6 per cent or S$0.09 to S$1.59.

Yinda Infocomm also saw a high volume of its securities traded, with 9.6 million shares worth S$1.3 million traded at 9.02am. The counter was down 10.1 per cent or 1.5 Singapore cents at 13.4 cents.

Among index stocks, Singtel saw brisk trading, with 4.9 million shares worth S$12.1 million traded within the first two minutes. Shares of Singtel rose 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.47.

The local banks were mixed in early trade. UOB was up 0.1 per cent or S$0.02 to S$25.95 at 9.03am. Shares of OCBC fell 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$11.86, while DBS edged down S$0.01 or 0.03 per cent to S$28.99 within the first three minutes of trading.

Over on Wall Street, stocks pulled back on Tuesday, with the Dow retreating from a record, despite strong consumer confidence data as US Treasury yields continued to climb.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.3 per cent to 33,066.96. The broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.3 per cent to 3,958.55, while the tech-rich Nasdaq composite Index slipped 0.1 per cent to 13,045.39.

In contrast to Wall Street, European shares advanced on Tuesday amid hopes of a vaccine-driven economic recovery, while investors looked past the fallout of a US hedge fund default that hit banking stocks a day earlier.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index gained 0.7 per cent, trading less than a per cent below its pre-pandemic peak.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Wednesday, tracking falls on Wall Street. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.8 per cent or 239.72 points at 29,192.98 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.9 per cent or 18.08 points to 1,959.78.