Singapore stocks open flat on Friday; STI up 0.02%

SINGAPORE shares opened flat on Friday, with the Straits Times Index (STI) rising just 0.02 per cent or 0.54 point to 3,101.69 as at 9.01 am.

Gainers beat losers 101 to 28, after 75.3 million securities worth S$59.3 million changed hands.

Sinjia Land was the most actively traded counter by volume on Friday morning, with 9.3 million shares changing hands as at 9.01 am. Its share price rose 11.1 per cent or S$0.003 to S$0.03.

Among index counters, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust was the top decliner on Friday morning, falling 0.5 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.10 as at 9.01 am.

AGV Group was also among the top five actively traded counters in terms of volume. Its share price rose S$0.002 or 28.6 per cent to S$0.009 as at 9.01 am.

The trio of local banks were all higher in early trade. DBS was up 0.2 per cent or S$0.05 to S$30.51, UOB rose 0.2 per cent or S$0.04 to S$26.25, while OCBC advanced 0.4 per cent or S$0.05 to S$11.60 as at 9.01 am.

In the US, stocks rallied on Thursday, propelled by relief at a congressional agreement that removed the near-term risk of a US debt default. The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 34,754.94, up 1 per cent, the broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.8 per cent to 4,399.75, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.1 per cent to 14,654.02.

In Europe, stocks marked their best showing since July on Thursday, as easing oil and gas prices offered relief to investors. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 1.6 per cent to 458.57, reversing weekly losses.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Friday, with investors shifting their focus to key US jobs data later in the day. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 1.2 per cent or 342.41 points at 28,020.62 in early trade, while the broader Topix index rose 1.2 per cent or 23.96 points to 1,963.58.