Singapore stocks open slightly higher on Friday; STI up 0.1%

SINGAPORE shares opened marginally higher on Friday, tracking strong gains on Wall Street overnight.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.1 per cent or 3.59 points to 3,176.59 as at 9.03am. Advancers outnumbered decliners 59 to 49, after 107.5 million securities worth S$69.1 million changed hands.

ESR-Reit was the most actively traded counter by volume, with 27.6 million units traded as at 9.04am. The counter fell 7 per cent or S$0.03 to S$0.38.

Singapore Press Holdings also saw heavy trading, with 13.2 million shares changing hands as at 9.04am. The counter tumbled 13 per cent or S$0.23 to S$1.56.

The trio of local banks were mixed in early trade. DBS was down 0.03 per cent or S$0.01 at S$29.56, UOB advanced 0.9 per cent or S$0.22 to S$26.25, while OCBC rose 0.2 per cent or S$0.03 to S$12.43.

Over on Wall Street, stocks finished higher on Thursday as the US economy is showing more signs of a robust economic recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average pushed to a new high of 34,548.53 by the close, a gain of 0.9 per cent, the broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.8 per cent to 4,201.56, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.4 per cent to 13,632.84.

European shares closed lower on Thursday despite the strong performance on Wall Street. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index ended 0.1 per cent lower at 441.02.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Friday as investor sentiment was weighed down by worries over an expected extension of the state of emergency in parts of Japan due to the pandemic. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.2 per cent or 58.64 points at 29,272.73 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was flat at 1,927.19.