Singapore shares open higher on Wednesday; STI up 0.3%

SINGAPORE stocks opened in positive territory on Wednesday (Oct 19) in tandem with global market rallies.

As at 9.03 am, the Straits Times Index gained 7.92 points or 0.3 per cent to 3,033.8 after 37.1 million securities worth S$44.6 million changed hands. Gainers outnumbered losers 85 to 25.

Genting Singapore was the top traded counter in terms of volume, rising 0.6 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.79, with six million of its shares traded.

Shares of Chinese shipbuilding company Yangzijiang Shipbuilding were also actively traded, remaining unchanged at S$1.16, with five million shares changing hands.

Index counters Frasers Logistics and Commercial Trust and CapitaLand Ascendas Reit also saw significant trading activity. The shares of the former climbed 0.9 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.12, while the latter remained unchanged at S$1.84.

The trio of banks began trade mostly in the green. As at 9.02 am, DBS was up 0.3 per cent or S$0.11 to S$32.61, while OCBC likewise gained 0.4 per cent or S$0.05 to S$11.64. Meanwhile, UOB remained unchanged at S$26.26.

In the US, Wall Street stocks rose for a second straight session on Tuesday on the back of another round of generally solid earnings, with blockbuster results coming later this month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.1 per cent to 30,523.80. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.1 per cent to 3,719.98, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.9 per cent to 10,772.40.

European shares also rose for the fourth straight session on Tuesday, building on the previous session’s rally that was driven by Britain’s reversal of its fiscal plan, with investors keeping a watch on earnings to gauge the economic outlook.

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The region-wide index Stoxx 600 ended 0.3 per cent higher on Tuesday.

Meanwhile in Asia, Tokyo shares opened higher on Wednesday after robust US corporate earnings helped global shares advance.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.4 per cent, or 95.56 points, to 27,251.70 in early trade, while the broader Topix index edged up 0.1 per cent, or 2.31 points, to 1,903.75.