Singapore shares post modest gains at open, tracking Wall St rally; STI up 0.2%

SINGAPORE stocks started the day on slightly stronger ground, after US equities bounced overnight.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.2 per cent or 4.8 points to 2,554.84 as at 9.03am on Thursday.

Gainers outnumbered losers 96 to 36, with 105.9 million securities worth S$68.8 million changing hands.

The most active counter by volume was precision medicine firm Clearbridge Health, which on Wednesday saw its share price jump amid heavy trading volumes alongside other healthcare-related counters. The Catalist-listed stock continued its rally on Thursday, climbing 39.2 per cent or 10 cents to 35.5 cents as at 9.04am, after 22 million shares changed hands.

Also heavily traded was ESR-Reit, which lost 0.5 Singapore cent or 1.4 per cent to 35.5 cents as at 9.05am. Its manager has more than halved its distribution per unit to 0.5 Singapore cent for the first quarter, after retaining some S$7 million of distributable income for "prudent cash flow management" amid the pandemic.

Banking stocks rose in early morning trade. DBS advanced S$0.12 or 0.6 per cent to S$18.86, OCBC Bank moved up S$0.10 or 1.2 per cent to S$8.72, while United Overseas Bank gained S$0.06 or 0.3 per cent to S$19.66.

Other active STI constituents included CapitaLand Mall Trust, which dropped S$0.04 or 2.3 per cent to S$1.69 with 3.2 million shares traded.

iFAST was trading on a cum-dividend basis at 89.5 Singapore cents, up 3.5 cents or 4.1 per cent, as at 9.04am. The mainboard-listed wealth management fintech firm on Thursday said its Q1 net profit more than doubled to S$3.6 million.

In the US, stocks recovered some of the losses from a two-session slide as US oil prices rallied after a volatile session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 2.0 per cent at 23,469.58. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 2.3 per cent to 2,798.70, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 2.8 per cent to 8,495.38.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Thursday as buybacks supported the market, although investors remained cautious about the virus pandemic and its economic impact.