Singapore stocks rise at Friday's open; STI up 0.2%

SINGAPORE shares opened higher in early trade on Friday (Oct 29), with investor confidence spurred by a strong performance on Wall Street.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.2 per cent or 7.54 points to 3,211.36 as at 9.01 am.

Gainers outpaced losers 87 to 27, after 63.8 million securities worth S$51.5 million changed hands.

2ndChance was the most actively traded counter by volume on Friday morning, with 17.4 million shares changing hands as at 9.01 am. Its share price remained flat at S$0.003.

Keppel Reit was the top gainer on Friday morning, rising 2.7 per cent or S$0.03 to S$1.13, with 9.9 million shares changing hands as at 9.01 am. The real estate investment trust reported that its distributable income from operations for the first nine months of 2021 rose 20.8 per cent year on year at S$159.9 million, on Oct 26.

Sunrise Shares was also among the top 5 actively traded counters in terms of volume. Its share price fell 1 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.104 as at 9.01 am.

The trio of local banks were mixed in early trade. DBS was up 0.5 per cent or S$0.16 to S$31.78, UOB remained flat at S$26.80, while OCBC rose 0.2 per cent or S$0.02 to S$11.88 as at 9.01 am.

Among index counters, Singtel actively traded with 1.1 million shares changing hands while its share price was flat at S$2.53. Keppel Corp rose 0.8 per cent or S$0.04 to S$5.41 as at 9.01 am.

In the US, stocks closed higher on Thursday (Oct 28), on the back of another round of strong results that offset disappointing US economic growth figures.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.7 per cent to 35,730.48, while the tech-rich Nasdaq finished at 15,448.12, up 1.4 per cent, an all-time high, and the broad-based S&P 500 jumped 1 per cent to 4,596.42, its fourth record in the last week and half.

European shares also closed higher on Thursday, buoyed by robust earnings from food and technology stocks.

The Europe-wide Stoxx 600 index closed 0.2 per cent higher with food and beverage and technology sectors gaining 1.6 per cent and 1.3 per cent, respectively.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index opened higher on Friday, supported by gains on Wall Street as investors eyed corporate earnings reports.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.1 per cent or 38.09 points at 28,858.18 in early trade, while the broader Topix index edged down 0.04 per cent or 0.72 point to 1,998.94.