Singapore shares open higher on Friday

AS expected, the Singapore market opened higher on Friday, buoyed by an overnight recovery on Wall Street, hints of more monetary easing by the European Central Bank as well as a recovery in crude oil prices.

At 9.05am, the benchmark Straits Times Index was up 46.18 points or 1.8 per cent to 2,578.88. Some 87.9 million shares were traded worth S$117.8 million. Gainers outpaced losers 123 to 28.

Among the active stocks, Ezra Holdings added 5.36 per cent to 5.9 cents, Sembcorp Industries rose 3.65 per cent to S$2.27, Keppel Corp was up 3.13 per cent to S$4.95, and CapitaLand was up 2.37 per cent to S$3.02.