Singapore stocks rise at Thursday's open; STI up 0.2%

SINGAPORE stocks rose in early trade on Thursday, after Wall Street stocks mostly fell amid concerns about excessive equity valuations.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.2 per cent or 7.6 points to 3,186.99 as at 9.01am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 79 to 29 after 53.5 million securities worth S$43.4 million changed hands.

P5 Capital shares were the most actively traded securities, with 13.9 million shares changing hands as at 9.01am. The counter rose 2.6 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to 3.9 cents.

Ntegrator International also saw heavy trading, with 5.9 million shares changing hands. The counter gained 7.1 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to 1.5 cents.

The trio of local banks were also trading higher on Thursday morning. DBS rose 0.8 per cent or S$0.24 to S$28.93, OCBC gained 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$11.81, while UOB advanced 0.3 per cent or S$0.07 to S$26.03 as at 9.01am.

Over at Wall Street, stocks mostly retreated. The Nasdaq Composite Index sank 1.0 per cent to 13,857.84, the S&P 500 fell 0.4 per cent to 4,124.66, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a 0.2 per cent gain to 33,730.89.

European shares rose on Wednesday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index advancing 0.2 per cent, closing just 0.2 per cent shy of record highs.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened slightly higher. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.1 per cent or 19.67 points at 29,640.66 in early trade, while the broader Topix index edged up 0.4 per cent or 8.12 points to 1,960.30.