Singapore shares open higher after Wall Street rally; STI up 0.28%

SINGAPORE stocks opened higher on Thursday, tracking rallies in US markets overnight. 

The Straits Times Index gained 0.28 per cent or nine points to 3,232.37 as at 9.03am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 67 to 53, after about 64.9 million securities worth S$78 million changed hands.

The most heavily traded counter was Ley Choon Group, which rose 0.4 Singapore cent or 25 per cent to S$0.02 with 7.1 million shares traded. Ley Choon Group on Wednesday posted a net profit of S$218,000 for its third quarter, reversing the net loss of S$914,000 a year ago.

Rex International rose 0.1 Singapore cent or 0.6 per cent to S$0.175 with 4.9 million shares traded.

OEL (Holdings) rose 0.4 Singapore cent or 15.4 per cent to S$0.01 with 4.6 million shares traded. OEL on Wednesday announced plans to diversify into early childhood childcare and health education in Singapore, as well as the healthcare industry.

Banking stocks started the morning in positive territory. DBS rose 20 Singapore cents or 0.8 per cent to S$25.62, UOB rose 20 Singapore cents or 0.8 per cent to S$26.38 and OCBC Bank rose three Singapore cents or 0.3 per cent to S$11.05. 

Other active index securities included City Developments which fell two Singapore cents or 0.2 per cent to S$11.24 and Singtel, which dropped two Singapore cents or 0.6 per cent to S$3.32 after it posted a 23.8 per cent slide in its third-quarter net profit. 

The Singapore bourse's gains on Thursday morning follow Wall Street's rally overnight as investor worries over the virus outbreak start to wane. The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average finished with a gain of 0.9 per cent at 29,551.42. The tech-rich Nasdaq rose 0.9 per cent to end at 9,725.96, and the broad-based S&P 500 increased by 0.7 per cent to 3,379.45.

Elsewhere in the region, Tokyo stocks opened lower. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.14 per cent to 23,828.31 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was down 0.25 per cent to 1,714.61.