Singapore stocks rise at Monday's open after GDP data; STI up 0.2%

SINGAPORE shares rose in early trade on Monday (Jan 3), following news that the country's GDP growth came in at 5.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2021, bringing full-year growth to 7.2 per cent.

The Straits Times Index (STI) moved up 0.2 per cent or 4.93 points to 3,128.61 as at 9.02 am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 85 to 41, after 59.6 million securities worth S$25.4 million changed hands.

Koh Brothers Eco Engineering 5HV was the second most traded by volume as at 9.02 am, climbing S$0.003 or 6 per cent to S$0.053 after 7.4 million shares were traded. This comes after the sustainable engineering solutions provider's subsidiary Oiltek International on Friday (Dec 31) lodged its preliminary offer document for an initial public offering on the Catalist board.

Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust (MNACT) RW0U was also actively traded at the open, with 4 million units of the real estate investment trust (Reit) changing hands. The counter advanced S$0.03 or 2.7 per cent to S$1.14.

Index counter Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT) N2IU was among the most actively traded securities, with 1.3 million units traded. The counter fell S$0.05 or 2.5 per cent to S$1.95.

The managers of MCT and MNACT proposed a merger that will propel the combined entity to become one of Asia's 10 largest Reits, they announced in a bourse filing on Friday.

The trio of local banks rose in early trade as at 9.02 am. DBS D05 was up S$0.09 or 0.3 per cent at S$32.75, UOB U11 advanced S$0.03 or 0.1 per cent to S$26.93, while OCBC O39 gained S$0.01 or 0.1 per cent to S$11.41.

Over on Wall Street, stocks lost ground on Friday in the final trading session of 2021, a year in which major indices posted huge gains and set multiple records despite the pandemic.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.3 per cent to end at 4,766.18, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2 per cent to 36,338.30, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.6 per cent to 15,644.97.

Meanwhile, European shares dipped on Friday even as they ended the year on a high note, amid surging Covid-19 infections and worries over the pace of global economic recovery.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell 0.1 per cent to close off 2021 at 487.80, with retail stocks leading losses, though it added 1.3 per cent for the week.

Elsewhere in Asia, financial markets in Japan are closed on Monday for a public holiday.