Singapore stocks extend gains at Friday's open; STI up 0.1%

THE Singapore stock market opened higher for the fourth straight session on Friday (Mar 18), tracking global market rallies overnight in the US and Europe.

The Straits Times Index (STI) was up 0.1 per cent or 3.36 points at 3,326.07 as at 9.01 am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 82 to 33, as some 54 million securities worth S$93.5 million changed hands.

Oil and gas firms were among some of the most actively traded counters in Friday's early trade, similar to previous sessions this past week.

T13 shares jumped 6.8 per cent or S$0.02 to S$0.315 after some 7.5 million of its securities were transacted.

5WH was also heavily traded with 3.6 million shares changing hands, sending its share price up by 5.9 per cent or S$0.02 to S$0.36.

Oil prices had shot up by more than 8 per cent in overnight trade on Thursday as the market rebounded from several days of losses with a renewed focus on supply shortages in coming weeks due to sanctions on Russia.

Energy and commodities plays were also active. Close to 3.9 million shares of coal mining company RE4 were traded, and its share price rose 2.1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$0.485.

Beverage company Y92 was heavily traded with 3.7 million securities transacted, though its share price remained flat at S$0.69.

As for the local banks, only O39 shares went up along with the overall market, rising 0.2 per cent or S$0.02 to S$12.16.

D05 shares were down 0.3 per cent or S$0.09 at S$34.63, while U11 also dipped 0.3 per cent or S$0.11 to S$31.99.

In the US, Wall Street stocks rallied for the third straight day on Thursday as markets monitored developments in Ukraine and digested monetary tightening moves by central banks.

Hopes for peace negotiations were dampened following the Russian bombing of a Ukrainian theatre sheltering many civilians, but planned talks between the leaders of the US and China raised investors' hopes.

The Bank of England hiked its main interest rate to its pre-pandemic level of 0.75 per cent, the third increase in a row.

The move comes a day after the US Federal Reserve announced its first interest rate hike since 2018 in a bid to counter runaway inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 1.2 per cent at 34,480.76, its third straight session of adding more than 1 per cent.

The broad-based S&P 500 also climbed 1.2 per cent to 4,411.67, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 1.3 per cent to 13,614.78.

European stocks closed higher after choppy trading on Thursday, as investors took in stride the long-expected start of a US monetary tightening.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.5 per cent, paring March losses spurred by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The postive momentum, however, was not carried forward to Tokyo as its benchmark Nikkei index opened flat on Friday, with investors cautious after recent gains and ahead of a long weekend.

The Nikkei 225 index hovered in a narrow range and was up 0.01 per cent or 2.63 points at 26,655.52 in early trade, while the broader Topix index added 0.3 per cent or 5.93 points to 1,904.94.