Singapore shares open higher after upbeat export data; STI up 0.4%

SINGAPORE stocks rose on Friday morning, amid news that the Republic's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) bounced back in June after a dip in May, expanding 16.1 per cent year on year.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) gained 0.4 per cent or 9.16 points to 2,632.83 as at 9.08am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 113 to 37, after 145.5 million securities worth S$77 million changed hands.

Among the most active counters by volume was Genting Singapore, which edged up 0.5 Singapore cent or 0.7 per cent to 77 cents, with 1.6 million shares changing hands as at 9.08am. The casino at Genting-owned Resorts World Sentosa was among the new places visited by Covid-19 patients while they were still infectious, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Thursday.

Other heavily traded counters include ComfortDelGro, which fell 0.7 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.46, with 1.4 million shares traded.

The trio of local banks all rose in early trade. DBS gained 0.2 per cent or S$0.05 to S$21.65.

OCBC Bank rose 0.7 per cent or S$0.06 to S$9.23. The bank's customers in Singapore can now use their SingPass Mobile app to access digital banking services via the OCBC mobile app or Internet banking. The lender is the first bank in Singapore to offer this service, it said on Thursday.

UOB put on 0.5 per cent or S$0.11 to S$20.76. The lender has tied up with Getz, a food and beverage payment and ordering platform provider, to provide merchants with lower food delivery transaction fees and marketing.

Other active index counters include the Singapore Exchange (SGX), which advanced 0.4 per cent or S$0.03 to S$8.32. Singapore Telecommunications rose 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.51, while Singapore Airlines gained 0.5 per cent or S$0.02 to S$3.74.

In the US, Wall Street stocks fell on Thursday after two strong sessions, with the tech-rich Nasdaq underperforming other indices following mixed economic data.

Meanwhile, European stocks ended off session lows on Thursday ahead of a keenly awaited meeting to organise a European recovery fund, after weak earnings and a growing number of Covid-19 cases had earlier pushed stocks down from one-month highs.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Friday as the positive effects of a cheaper yen against the dollar narrowly outweighed falls on Wall Street, boosting sentiment.