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

SINGAPORE shares rose in early trade on Monday (Jan 17) after Wall Street closed mixed overnight.

The Straits Times Index (STI) moved up 0.3 per cent or 8.75 points to 3,290.72 as at 9.03 am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 82 to 61 after 55.7 million securities worth S$81 million changed hands.

One of the most active counters by volume was Sembcorp Marine S51 , which rose 1.2 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.084 with 13.2 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded securities include Jiutian Chemical Group C8R, which rose 2.4 per cent or S$0.002 to S$0.084 with 5 million shares traded, as well as Disa 532 , which traded flat at S$0.009 with 4.9 million shares changing hands.

Index counter Singtel Z74 was also actively traded in the morning. The telco was up 0.8 per cent or S$0.02 to S$2.47, with 4.7 million shares changing hands.

The trio of local banks were all trading higher on Monday morning. DBS D05was up 0.03 per cent or S$0.010 to S$35.89, UOB U11climbed up 0.7 per cent or S$0.21 to S$30.14, while OCBC O39 rose 0.3 per cent or S$0.04 to S$12.37 as at 9.03 am.

Over on Wall Street, market shares closed with a mix on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 201.81 points or 0.6 per cent to 35,911.81 after investors were disappointed by fourth quarter results from big US banks. The S&P 500 gained 3.82 points or 0.1 per cent to 4,662.85 and the Nasdaq Composite added 86.94 points or 0.6 per cent to 14,893.75.

Meanwhile, European shares ended lower on Friday after hawkish remarks from central bank officials fanned worries over the impact of tighter policy, while France's EDF slumped as the government intervened to curb electricity prices. The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell 1 per cent, marking its worst week since late November, 2021.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Monday after a mixed close on Wall Street as investors weighed worries over the tightening of monetary policy by the US Fed. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.7 per cent or 195.38 points at 28,319.66 in early trade, while the broader Topix index gained 0.5 per cent or 8.38 points to 1,986.04.