Singapore stocks open higher on Wednesday; STI up 0.5%

SINGAPORE shares opened higher on Wednesday, tracking gains on Wall Street. The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.5 per cent or 14.53 points to 3,122.15 as at 9.02am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 97 to 31, with 71.6 million securities worth S$61.2 million changing hands.

The most active counter by volume was Sembcorp Marine, with 36.3 million shares worth S$3.4 million traded as at 9.02am. Its shares were down 0.9 Singapore cent or 8.8 per cent at 9.3 cents.

Keppel DC Reit was also heavily traded in the morning, with 1.4 million units worth S$3.6 million changing hands. Its units were up S$0.01 or 0.4 per cent at S$2.55. Its manager on Tuesday said it has used S$148.3 million of the gross proceeds of S$204.3 million it raised from a private placement announced earlier this month to partially fund its acquisition of a data centre in Guangdong, China, and repay debt previously drawn down for future acquisitions.

Singapore Exchange (SGX) also saw brisk trading early in the session, and was up S$0.08 or 0.8 per cent at S$10.32. The bourse operator is reported to be planning its maiden US dollar bond offering, which would make it the latest entrant in a rush by Asian companies to lock in cheap borrowing costs.

Banking stocks were up in early trade. DBS rose S$0.19 or 0.6 per cent to S$30.31, UOB gained S$0.23 or 0.9 per cent to S$26.27, while OCBC was up S$0.12 or 1 per cent at S$11.80.

In the US, Wall Street ended higher on Tuesday as the FDA's full approval of a Covid-19 vaccine on Monday and the absence of negative catalysts kept risk appetite alive ahead of the much-anticipated Jackson Hole Symposium.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 30.55 points or 0.1 per cent to 35,366.26, the broad-based S&P 500 gained 6.7 points or 0.2 per cent to 4,486.23, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite added 77.15 points or 0.5 per cent to 15,019.80.

Meanwhile, European stocks ended flat on Tuesday as investors held back from making big bets ahead of an update on US monetary policy, even as data outlined a stronger-than-expected economic recovery in Germany. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed largely unchanged at 471.79 points, following a sell-off last week that knocked it off record highs.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher Wednesday on rekindled hopes that the worst is over for the current wave of Covid-19 infections. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.2 per cent or 48.28 points to 27,780.38 in early trade, while the broader Topix index advanced 0.2 per cent or 4.07 points to 1,938.27.