Singapore stocks open higher on Thursday; STI up 1.3%

SINGAPORE shares rose in early trade on Thursday (Mar 10), breaking their 3-day streak of opening lower as Wall Street indices rose overnight.

The Straits Times Index (STI) was up 1.3 per cent or 40.82 points at 3,236.20 as at 9.01 am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 104 to 35, as some 92.9 million securities worth S$97.5 million changed hands.

VCPlus 43E was the top traded stock by volume in the morning with 10.1 million shares traded. The Catalist-listed gold miner inched up S$0.001 or 5.6 per cent to reach S$0.019 at the open.

Sembcorp Marine (Sembmarine) S51 and mm2 Asia were also actively traded in terms of volume. 7.6 million shares of Sembmarine changed hands as at 9.01 am, bringing the counter down S$0.001 or 1.1 per cent to S$0.091.

Meanwhile, entertainment company mm2 Asia 1B0 saw some 6.1 million shares transacted as the counter rose S$0.001 or 1.6 per cent to S$0.062.

Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) Z74 also saw brisk trading at the open. The index counter was up S$0.03 or 1.2 per cent at S$2.55.

The local banks were a sea of green on Thursday morning. DBS D05 was up S$0.74 or 2.3 per cent at S$33.00, UOB U11 climbed S$0.75 or 2.6 per cent to S$30.06, while OCBC O39 gained S$0.16 or 1.4 per cent to S$11.64.

Over in the US, stocks ended Wednesday's trading well into positive territory, gaining back some ground lost in recent sessions thanks to a rise in oil prices even as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued.

The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 2 per cent higher at 33,286.25, and the broad-based S&P 500 gained 2.6 per cent to 4,277.89. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 3.6 per cent to finish at 13,255.55.

European shares also made a strong comeback on Wednesday thanks to banks and automakers, as investors picked up beaten-down stocks following a rout sparked by fears about the fallout from the Ukraine crisis.

The Stoxx 600 broke a 4-day losing streak during which it lost about 7 per cent, hit by the threat of a Russian oil imports ban.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo shares opened sharply higher on Thursday on hopes for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine ahead of their first high-level meeting since Moscow invaded its neighbour.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index spiked 2.6 per cent or 631.27 points to 25,349.25, while the broader Topix index jumped 2.6 per cent or 45.11 points to 1,804.00.