Singapore shares open Thursday higher; STI up 0.1%

SINGAPORE shares rose on Thursday (Apr 21) morning following a mixed finish on Wall Street.

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) edged up 0.1 per cent or 4.68 points to reach 3,340. Gainers outnumbered losers 73 to 40 after 70.4 million securities worth S$82.4 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was  Jiutian Chemical , which moved up 2 per cent or S$0.002 to S$0.104 as 10.5 million of its shares were transacted.

Other heavily traded securities include Sembcorp Marine , which remained flat at S$0.123 after 10.4 million securities changed hands in early trade.

Index counter Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was the third most actively traded by volume in the morning, shedding S$0.02 or 1.3 per cent to S$1.54. This comes after the group closed Wednesday 2.5 per cent or S$0.04 lower at S$1.56, following news that its investment arm Yangzijiang Financial Holding will be spun-off and listed on Apr 28.

The trio of local banks were trading mixed in the morning. DBS climbed S$0.13 or 0.4 per cent to reach S$33.37, while UOB edged up S$0.01 or 0.03 per cent to S$31.12. OCBC dipped S$0.03 or 0.3 per cent to trade lower at S$12.07.

Major US indices ended Wednesday mixed, with the Dow seeing a minor gain but tech stocks experiencing a selloff after streaming giant Netflix’s big earnings miss.

The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.7 per cent higher at 35,160.79, while the broad-based S&P 500 was down 0.1 per cent at 4,459.45. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 1.2 per cent to close at 13,453.07.

European shares rebounded on Wednesday, although worries over the Ukraine-Russia war, slowing growth and rising yields kept gains in check.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 ticked up 0.8 per cent to make back all of Tuesday’s losses, with technology stocks gaining the most.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Thursday with the benchmark Nikkei 225 index adding 0.3 per cent or 83.99 points to 27,301.84. The broader Topix index edged up 0.2 per cent or 3.70 points to 1,918.85.