Singapore stocks rise at Monday's open; STI up 0.4%

SINGAPORE shares rose in early trade on Monday (Jan 10) after US stocks finished a losing week on a feeble note on Friday.

The Straits Times Index (STI) moved up 0.4 per cent or 13.18 points to 3,218.44 as at 9.02 am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 59 to 57, after 43.4 million securities worth S$49 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was Catalist-listed investment holding company Disa 532 , which traded flat at S$0.009, after 7.8 million shares were traded.

Jiutian Chemical C8R was also actively traded at the open, trading up 1.3 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent, at S$0.077, with 3.3 million shares changing hands.

Index counter Singtel Z74 was among the most actively traded securities on Monday morning, with about 1.7 million shares traded. The counter opened higher at S$2.33, up 0.4 per cent or 1 cent.

The trio of local banks all rose at the open.

As at 9.02 am, DBS D05 was up S$0.19 or 0.6 per cent to trade at S$34.56, while UOB U11 was up S$0.40 or 1.4 per cent to trade at S$28.69. OCBC O39 gained S$0.08 or 0.7 per cent to S$11.96.

Over on Wall Street, US stocks fell for the third straight session following disappointing job growth in December. All 3 major indices fell, with the broad-based S&P 500 ending at 4,677.03, down 0.4 per cent for the day and 1.9 per cent for the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended essentially flat at 36,231.66, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1 per cent to 14,935.90.

Meanwhile, European stocks slipped on Friday on concerns over rising inflation and surging Covid-19 infections, while investors were uncertain over how weak US payrolls data would influence the Federal Reserve's plans for tightening policy.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed 0.4 per cent lower at 486.25.

Elsewhere in Asia, financial markets in Japan took a holiday on Monday as the country commemorates the Coming of Age Day.