Singapore stocks rise at Monday's open; STI up 0.3%

SINGAPORE shares opened the week on a positive note, tracking Wall Street gains on Friday as worries about monetary policy uncertainty eased.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.3 per cent or 8.85 points to 3,130.45 as at 9.02am on Monday.

Gainers outnumbered losers 108 to 36, after 100.2 million securities worth S$52.6 million changed hands.

Sembcorp Marine (Sembmarine) was the top traded counter of the morning, with 47.9 million shares worth S$6.4 million changing hands in early trade. The counter fell 4.3 per cent or 0.6 Singapore cent to 13.3 cents, continuing its downward trend after last Thursday's announcement that Sembmarine had inked a memorandum of understanding to explore a merger with Keppel Offshore & Marine.

Shares of Thai Beverage were also actively traded, with 4.3 million shares worth S$2.9 million changing hands at the open. The index stock lost one Singapore cent or 1.5 per cent to trade at 67.5 cents as at 9.02am.

About 1.5 million Sarine Technologies shares were traded at the open, resulting in the counter gaining 0.5 Singapore cent or 6.7 per cent to 79.5 cents. On Sunday, the Israel-based diamond technology company announced that its application for a dual listing of its shares on Israel's Tel Aviv Stock Exchange has been approved.

The trio of local banks opened in positive territory on Monday morning. DBS rose S$0.12 or 0.4 per cent to S$29.64, OCBC added S$0.09 or 0.8 per cent to S$11.95, while UOB gained S$0.03 or 0.1 per cent to S$25.71 as at 9.02am.

Wall Street on Friday concluded a strong week on easing worries about monetary policy uncertainty.

The broad-based S&P 500 ended at 4,280.70, up 0.3 per cent to mark a second straight record. The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.7 per cent to 34,435.16, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.1 per cent to 14,360.39, snapping a streak of three straight records.

European shares stayed just below record highs on Friday with a boost from the financial and materials sectors.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed up 0.1 per cent, ending the week with gains of 1 per cent following sharp swings on concerns of higher inflation hitting real income and leading central banks to raise interest rates sooner than expected.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Monday in cautious trading following a mixed performance on Wall Street, with investors awaiting fresh market-moving events.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.2 per cent or 51.88 points at 29,118.06 in early trade, while the broader Topix index advanced 0.3 per cent or 6.26 points to 1,968.91.