Singapore shares open higher on Wednesday; STI up 0.05%

SINGAPORE shares opened Wednesday’s (Jul 13) session up in green, bucking Wall Street’s downcast.

The Straits Times Index (STI) grew 0.05 per cent or 1.64 points to 3,147.41 as at 9.01 am. Advancers outnumbered decliners 61 to 40 after 27.8 million securities worth S$45.6 million changed hands.

Index counter Singtel was the most heavily traded counter by volume on Wednesday’s early trade, moving up 0.8 per cent or S$0.02 to S$2.66 as at 9am.

Sembcorp Marine and Ascendas Reit ranked second and third amongst the most heavily traded counters by volume on Wednesday. Shares of Sembcorp Marine opened unchanged at S$0.10 with 1.7 million share traded while shares of Ascendas Reit grew 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.89 with 1.5 million stocks changing hands.

All three local banks were a sea of red at Wednesday’s opening bell. As at 9 am, DBS was down 0.1 per cent or S$0.03 at S$30.70, UOB slipped 0.3 per cent or S$0.07 to S$26.72 while OCBC declined 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$11.48.

US stocks were down on Tuesday’s closing as investors braced themselves for a potentially grim US inflation report. Analysts expect headline consumer prices rose 1.1 per cent in June, surpassing the increases in May.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6 per cent to end at 30,981.33. The broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.9 per cent to 3,818.80, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 1.0 per cent to 11,264.73.

European shares were up at the end of Tuesday’s trading session, led by beaten-down aerospace, luxury and travel stocks.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index ended 0.5 per cent higher after opening lower and breaking a three-day winning streak in the previous session.

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Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Wednesday ahead of a key US inflation report and mounting worries of rising Covid-19 cases at home and abroad.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.53 per cent, or 138.69 points, at 26,475.35 in early trade, while the broader Topix index edged up 0.43 per cent, or 8.09 points, to 1,891.39.