Singapore stocks rise at open after Wall Street ends at record highs; STI up 0.3%

SINGAPORE shares opened higher on Thursday after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record highs on Wall Street.

The Straits Times Index (STI) advanced 0.3 per cent or 7.93 points to 3,115.42 as at 9.04am. Gainers outnumbered losers 85 to 61, after 63.5 million securities worth S$61.7 million changed hands.

One of the most active counters by volume was marine and offshore engineering group Sembcorp Marine, which rose 1.1 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to 9.4 cents with 8.9 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded counters include media entertainment group mm2 Asia, which gained 3.5 per cent or 0.2 Singapore cent to six cents, with 8.6 million shares traded, and seafood supplier Oceanus, which rose 2.9 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to 3.6 cents, with 6.4 million shares traded.

Banking stocks started the morning higher. DBS rose 1.1 per cent or S$0.34 to S$30.50, UOB edged up 0.1 per cent or S$0.02 to S$26.01, while OCBC gained 0.3 per cent or S$0.03 to S$11.68.

Other active index counters include Singtel, which advanced 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.39, and the Singapore Exchange, which slipped 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$10.25.

In the US, chipmakers and financials helped push the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to record closing highs as investors turned their attention to the upcoming Jackson Hole Symposium for assurances that the Federal Reserve's timeline for monetary policy tightening remains intact.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.1 per cent to 35,405.50, the broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.2 per cent to 4,496.19, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite added 0.2 per cent to 15,041.86.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Thursday. The Nikkei 225 index was up 0.2 per cent at 27,785.95 in early trade, while the broader Topix index rose 0.1 per cent to 1,937.96.