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

SINGAPORE shares rose in early trade on Thursday (Nov 25), mirroring overnight gains on Wall Street.

The Straits Times Index (STI) moved up 0.2 per cent or 5.94 points to 3,233.09 as at 9.04 am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 109 to 39, after 97.4 million securities worth S$85.2 million changed hands.

QT Vascular 5I0 was the most traded in terms of volume, slipping S$0.001 or 12.5 per cent to S$0.007 after 13.8 million shares were traded.

SMI Vantage Y45 was also actively traded at the open, rising S$0.023 or 25 per cent to S$0.115 with 10.9 million shares changing hands. The watch-listed company announced on Nov 24 that it is acquiring 3,000 crypto mining machines from NBTC Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China-headquartered tech firm The9, in a deal amounting to 3.3 million yuan or S$705,000.

Index counter Mapletree Logistics Trust M44U was among the most actively traded securities, flat at S$1.91 with 6 million shares traded. The trust recently announced the pricing of its private placement at S$1.88 per new unit and its preferential offering at S$1.84.

The trio of local banks were mixed in early trade. DBS D05 slipped S$0.19 or 0.6 per cent to S$32.19, following a 2-day service disruption. UOB U11 rose S$0.24 or 0.9 per cent to trade at S$27.72, while OCBC O39 gained S$0.07 or 0.6 per cent to S$11.83.

Over on Wall Street, US stocks finished mostly higher on Wednesday (Nov 24) following a deluge of economic releases ahead of its Thanksgiving holiday, which showed jobless claims hitting their lowest level since 1969.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.2 per cent to 4,701.46, just a few points shy of an all-time record. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.4 per cent to 15,845.22, while the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average lost less than 0.1 per cent at 35,804.38.

Meanwhile, European shares ended a 4-day losing streak on Nov 24 with shares of Telecom Italia leading gains, but fears around Europe's worsening Covid-19 situation and the prospect of severe restrictions restrained the market.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index climbed 0.1 per cent to end at 479.69 after recording its worst session in nearly 2 months on Nov 23 amid a continental resurgence in coronavirus cases and fears of rising interest rates.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Thursday on strong US data.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 0.6 per cent or 180.35 points to 29,483.01 in early trade, while the broader Topix index firmed 0.4 per cent or 8.59 points to 2,027.71.