Singapore shares open higher tracking US market gains; STI up 2.1%

SINGAPORE shares opened higher on Friday after US markets closed higher overnight.

The Straits Times Index gained 54.72 points or 2.1 per cent to 2,666.97 as at 9.05am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 178 to 24, after 117.1 million securities worth S$142.1 million changed hands.

Among the most actively traded counters, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding rose S$0.02 or 1.9 per cent to S$1.05 after eight million shares were traded.

Other actives included Singtel, which rose S$0.07 or 2.5 per cent to S$2.84 on 2.5 million shares traded while Ascendas Reit was up S$0.07 or 2.5 per cent to S$2.88 on 2.1 million units changing hands.

All three local banks advanced in early trade, as DBS gained S$0.51 or 2.6 per cent to S$19.89, OCBC rose S$0.21 or 2.4 per cent to S$9.08 while UOB increased S$0.42 or 2.1 per cent to S$20.56.

Wall Street stocks finished higher on Thursday despite another round of bleak economic data as US President Donald Trump vowed to press ahead with reopening the economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1 per cent at 23,537.68. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.6 per cent to 2,799.55 while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.7 per cent to 8,532.36.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo also opened higher. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 1.9 per cent or 360.87 points at 19,651.07 in early trade, while the broader Topix index rose 1.2 per cent or 16.55 points to 1,438.79.