Singapore shares flat at Thursday’s open; STI edges up 0.01%

SINGAPORE stocks rose slightly in early trade on Thursday (Apr 28) tracking minor gains on Wall Street overnight.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) headed up 0.01 per cent or 0.22 point to 3,320.89 as at 9.02 am. Gainers outnumbered losers 49 to 47, after 188.9 million securities worth S$92.1 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was Sembcorp Marine (Sembmarine), which fell 16 per cent or S$0.021 to S$0.11, with 155.4 million shares changing hands. Meanwhile, Keppel Corp rose 2.4 per cent or S$0.16 to S$6.82, with 2.9 million shares traded.

Keppel and Sembmarine on Wednesday said they entered into a definitive agreement to merge their offshore and marine units, in a deal that will help Keppel realise S$9.4 billion in value.

Other heavily traded securities included Yangzijiang Shipbuilding , which rose 2.3 per cent or S$0.02 to S$0.90 with 7.9 million shares traded.

Mapletree Commercial Trust was also actively traded, rising 1.1 per cent or S$0.02 to S$1.89, while Venture Corp rose 0.4 per cent or S$0.06 to S$16.99.

Banking stocks fell in early morning trade. DBS was down 0.5 per cent or S$0.15 at S$32.75, UOB fell 1.4 per cent or S$0.42 to S$30.14, while OCBC rose 0.3 per cent or S$0.04 to S$11.91.

In the US, Wall Street stocks closed slightly higher on Wednesday, regaining some ground lost in the prior session as investors await US growth data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2 per cent to close at 33,301.93. The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.2 per cent to 4,183.96 and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index ended flat at 12,488.93.

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Meanwhile in Europe, London’s FTSE 100 edged up on Wednesday, driven by gains in miners and strong corporate updates, although a fall in cyclical stocks and industrial software company Aveva Group capped its rise. The blue-chip index advanced 0.5 per cent, with Anglo American rising 5.2 per cent to lead gains among miners.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo’s stocks also opened slightly higher on Thursday after US indices avoided further sharp falls, relieving investors who also cheered solid corporate earnings. The Nikkei 225 index firmed 0.04 per cent or 10.64 points to 26,397.27, while the broader Topix index added 0.3 per cent or 4.61 points to 1,865.37.