Singapore stocks open higher on Wednesday; STI up 1.4%

THE Singapore stock market continued the rally seen in other markets, opening higher in early trade on Wednesday (Mar 16).

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 1.4 per cent or 46.02 points at 3,282.06 as at 9.01 am.

Gainers outnumber losers 92 to 35, as 63.7 million securities worth S$83.8 million changed hands.

Food tech company Oceanus 579 was the most actively traded counter, with 13.9 million securities transacted. However, its share price bucked the overall market trend and declined by 5 per cent or S$0.001 at S$0.019.

Oil and gas companies Sembcorp Marine S51 and RH Petrogas T13 were also heavily traded. Over 9.2 million Sembcorp Marine shares changed hands, with its shares rising 1.2 per cent or S$0.001 at S$0.087.

As for RH Petrogas, the counter rose 3.9 per cent or S$0.01 at S$0.27, as 5.6 million of its shares were traded.

Some 6.5 million units of Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust RW0U were also transacted. The unit price of the real estate investment trust went up 1.8 per cent or S$0.02 at S$1.11.

The shares of all 3 local banks also opened higher. DBS D05 rose 2.2 per cent or S$0.75 at S$34.64, while UOB U11 went up 2.9 per cent or S$0.88 at S$31.41. OCBC O39 also climbed 1.7 per cent or S$0.20 at S$11.90.

In the United States, Wall Street stocks surged on Tuesday following another steep drop in crude prices as the Federal Reserve kicked off a closely-watched policy meeting.

Brent oil futures finished under US$100 a barrel for the first time in nearly 3 weeks, tumbling mainly on worries about weakened Chinese demand due to fresh Covid-19 restrictions.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 1.8 per cent at 33,544.34. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 2.1 per cent to 4,262.45, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index leaped 2.9 per cent to 12,948.62.

European stocks, however, fell on Tuesday, with commodity-linked sectors leading the losses, as concerns about surging coronavirus cases in China added to nerves ahead of a widely expected US interest rate hike.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 0.3 per cent, after rising in the last 2 sessions when hopes of progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks had lifted sentiment.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Wednesday, extending US gains as investors took a breather following another steep drop in crude prices.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.8 per cent or 190.12 points at 25,536.60 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.8 per cent or 14.14 points at 1,840.77.