Singapore stocks open higher on Monday; STI up 0.9%

SINGAPORE stocks started the week on a stronger note, reversing last week's decline, amid gains across the region on Monday morning.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.9 per cent or 24.7 points to 2,846.4 as at 9.01am. The index had fallen 0.64 per cent over the last week.

Gainers outnumbered losers 99 to 25, after 62.5 million securities worth S$50.7 million changed hands.

Most of the index counters were trading in the green on Monday morning. Shares of ComfortDelGro were among the biggest gainers on the index, with its shares up 2.4 per cent or S$0.04 to S$1.69 as at 9.02am.

The trio of local banks were also trading higher. DBS shares were up 1.5 per cent or S$0.37 to S$25.43, OCBC shares gained 0.7 per cent or S$0.07 to S$10.02, while UOB shares rose 0.2 per cent or S$0.04 to S$22.81 as at 9.02am.

Aedge Group made its trading debut on the Catalist board on Monday, with shares trading at 21.5 Singapore cents as at 9.03am. It represents an increase of 7.5 per cent or 1.5 cents from its initial public offering (IPO) price of 20 cents per share.

The provider of engineering, transport, and security and manpower services said on Friday evening that all 16 million placement shares in its IPO were validly subscribed for.

Shares of Malaysian glove maker Top Glove were trading lower on Monday morning, down 4.4 per cent or S$0.10 to S$2.18 as at 9.03am. Reuters reported on Sunday that a Top Glove worker in Malaysia took two photos in May of fellow employees crowding into one of its factories, and was subsequently fired for sharing them.

Wall Street stocks finished mostly lower on Friday on disappointment over the lack of progress on a US stimulus bill. Major indices concluded a choppy week of trading modestly lower following the session, but remained near all-time highs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2 per cent at 30,046.37. The broad-based S&P 500 declined 0.1 per cent to 3,663.46, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.2 per cent to 12,377.87.

In Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Monday after the Bank of Japan's key business confidence survey showed improvement for the second straight quarter.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.34 per cent or 90.45 points at 26,742.97 in early trade, while the broader Topix index edged up 0.43 per cent or 7.62 points to 1,789.63.

The ASX 200 in Australia was also higher on Monday, up 0.4 per cent to 6,670.9 in morning trade.