Singapore stocks open flat at Monday's open

SINGAPORE stocks opened nearly flat in early trade on Monday (Nov 15), after Wall Street closed last week on an upbeat note.

The Straits Times Index (STI) nudged down slightly by 0.03 points to 3,228.42 as at 9.02am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 108 to 50 after 187.3 million securities worth S$62.3 million changed hands.

Gold miner and explorer Shen Yao Holdings A78 was the top gainer of the morning in terms of volume, rising $$0.001 or 33.3 per cent to S$0.004 after 71.7 million shares were traded as at 9.04am.

Sembcorp Marine S51 was also actively traded at open, rising S$0.001 or 1.2 per cent to S$0.086 after 11.6 million units changed hands.

Index counter ComfortDelGro C52 was among the most actively traded securities on Monday morning, with 5 million shares traded. The counter rose S$0.01 or 0.7 per cent to S$1.52.

Among the trio of local banks, only UOB saw gains at the open. Its shares were up S$0.05 or 0.2 per cent to S$27.62 as at 9.04am.

DBS was down 0.1 per cent or S$0.04 to S$32, while OCBC slipped S$0.03 or 0.3 per cent to S$11.77.

In the US, Wall Street closed the week on an upbeat note on Friday (Nov 12) with stocks gaining ground for a second day, brushing off data showing consumer sentiment fell to a 10-year low amid rising inflation.

The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial average rose 0.5 per cent to 36,100.31, while the broad-based S&P 500 jumped 0.7 per cent to 4,682.85. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.8 per cent to 15,860.96.

Meanwhile, European shares closed their sixth straight week of gains at a high on Friday, as strong results from luxury goods group Richemont rounded off a robust earning season.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed 0.3 per cent higher at a new peak of 486.75 points, and added 0.7 per cent for the week. It finished at record highs in four of the five sessions last week.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Monday following Wall Street gains as investors digested data showing a worse-than-expected contraction of Japan's economy in the Covid-hit third quarter.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.75 per cent at 29,830.82 in early trade, while the broader Topix index edged up 0.71 per cent to 2,055.13.