Singapore shares track Wall Street gains to open higher on Thursday; STI up 0.2%
Michelle Zhu
SINGAPORE stocks were pulled into positive territory on Thursday (Sep 15) after US equities finished higher overnight despite lingering concerns over inflation.
As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) inched up 0.2 per cent or 6.71 points to 3,264.73. Advancers outnumbered decliners 73 to 25 after 44.3 million securities worth S$54.1 million changed hands.
Ley Choon was the top-traded counter by volume, rising 17.7 per cent or S$0.003 to S$0.02 with 9.7 million shares transacted at the open. This comes after the Catalist-listed group on Thursday morning announced it was awarded contracts worth S$67 million, bringing its total order book to S$207 million to be delivered over the next 2 to 3 years.
Other actively traded stocks include Addvalue Tech and Sembcorp Marine , which both remained flat at S$0.015 and S$0.114 after 3.9 million shares and 2.8 million shares changed hands, respectively.
Index counter Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust also saw brisk trading on Thursday morning, rising S$0.03 or 1.1 per cent to reach S$2.89.
The trio of local banks were mixed in early trade. OCBC was the sole gainer, rising S$0.06 or 0.5 per cent to S$12.28 at the open as DBS declined S$0.12 or 0.4 per cent to S$33.20. UOB was unchanged at S$27.28.
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Wall Street equities regained some ground lost in the prior session to end modestly higher on Wednesday, although the impact of disappointing US inflation data continued to reverberate through the markets.
The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1 per cent to finish the session at 31,135.09. The broad-based S&P 500 was up 0.3 per cent to 3,946.01, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.7 per cent to 11,719.68.
European shares however extended their decline on Wednesday despite a rally in oil stocks.
The continent-wide Stoxx 600 index fell 0.9 per cent with miners, industrials and consumer stocks weighing the most.
Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo shares opened Thursday higher, trailing gains on Wall Street and rebounding from sharp losses the previous day triggered by nagging worries about US inflation. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 0.3 per cent or 69.19 points to 27,887.81 in early trade, while the broader Topix index rose 0.1 per cent or 2.14 points at 1,949.6.
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