Singapore shares edge up at Wednesday's open; STI up 0.18%

SINGAPORE shares opened higher on Wednesday tracking Wall Street stocks overnight, with the Straits Times Index gaining 5.65 points or 0.18 per cent to 3,181.22 as at 9am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 56 to 31, after about 62.4 million securities worth S$57.1 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, GSS Energy gained 0.6 Singapore cent or 6.8 per cent to 9.4 Singapore cents, with 5.2 million shares traded, while Trendlines was up 0.1 Singapore cent or 0.8 per cent to 12.5 Singapore cents, with 4.4 million shares traded.

Financials were mostly in the green, with United Overseas Bank adding S$0.07 or 0.3 per cent to S$25.85, OCBC Bank advancing S$0.10 or 0.9 per cent to S$10.87, while DBS was flat at S$25.09.

Other active stocks included City Developments which gained S$0.18 or 1.7 per cent to S$11.03, whereas ComfortDelGro slipped S$0.03 or 1.4 per cent to S$2.15.

Over in the US, stocks closed at record highs as investors calmed their nerves over the novel coronavirus outbreak that has swept across Asia.

At the closing bell, the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index stood at 9,638.94, up 0.1 per cent, while the broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.2 per cent to hit 3,357.75. The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average closed flat at 29,276.34.

Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan's Topix was little changed, while South Korea's Kospi rose 0.2 per cent and Australia stocks added 0.3 per cent.