Singapore shares rise at Friday’s open; STI up 0.5%

SINGAPORE stocks rose slightly in early trade on Friday (Apr 29) after local banks saw a mixed performance minutes after the market open.

DBS, OCBC and UOB had each reported a 10 per cent drop in earnings for the first quarter ended Mar 31 on Friday.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) headed up 0.5 per cent or 18.11 points to 3,353.2 as at 9.04 am. Gainers outnumbered losers 77 to 45, after 103.6 million securities worth S$140.7 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was Sembcorp Marine , which remained flat at S$0.108, with 39 million shares changing hands.

Jiutian Chemical's counter also remained unchanged at S$0.093, with 5.6 million shares traded, while Genting Singapore stayed flat at a price of S$0.81 with 2.8 million shares traded.

Banking stocks were mixed during the early morning trade. As at 9.03 am, DBS gained 2.5 per cent or S$0.82 to S$33.83, OCBC was up 1.8 per cent or S$0.21 at S$12.17, while UOB fell 2.1 per cent or S$0.62 to S$29.52.

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Other heavily traded securities included Mapletree Logistics Trust , which added 0.6 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.79. On Thursday, the real estate investment trust posted a 5 per cent rise in distribution per unit to S$0.02268 for its fourth quarter ended March, from S$0.02161 in the year-ago period.

Keppel Corp was also actively traded, rising 1.2 per cent or S$0.08 to S$6.94, while City Developments Limited fell 0.6 per cent or S$0.05 to S$8.66.

On Wall Street, major US indices finished higher on Thursday, recouping losses suffered earlier in the week despite data showing the US’s gross domestic product shrank in the first quarter.

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Stocks to watch: DBS, OCBC, UOB, SPH Reit, HPL, MLT, Ascott Residence Trust

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.8 per cent to close at 33,916.26. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was up 3.1 per cent at 12,871.53, while the S&P 500 gained 2.5 per cent to end at 4,287.76.

Meanwhile in Europe, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed up 0.6 per cent, but was below session highs, hit by weak advance first quarter US economic growth and higher-than-expected German inflation spurring bets on a quicker pace of monetary tightening by the European Central Bank.

Elsewhere in Asia, financial markets in Tokyo are closed for a public holiday.