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

SINGAPORE shares opened higher on Thursday despite muted trading on Wall Street, as investors await key US jobs data due this week.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.3 per cent or 10.92 points to 3,171.96 as at 9.01am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 94 to 39, after 97 million securities worth S$53.4 million changed hands.

CFM Holdings was among the most actively traded counters by volume on Thursday morning, with 10.9 million shares changing hands as at 9.02am. The counter rose 0.8 Singapore cent or 12.1 per cent to 7.4 cents.

Among index counters, ThaiBev was the top gainer in early trade, rising 0.5 Singapore cent or 0.7 per cent to 69 cents, after 2.4 million shares changed hands.

Genting Singapore added one Singapore cent or 1.2 per cent to 87.5 cents as at 9.02am, extending its upward momentum after a day of heavy trading on Wednesday. Earlier this week, the operator of Resorts World Sentosa was revealed to be one of two qualifying parties for the Yokohama integrated resort request for proposal.

The trio of local banks were all up on Thursday morning. DBS gained S$0.09 or 0.3 per cent to trade at S$30.01 at the open, OCBC advanced S$0.13 or 1.1 per cent to S$12.50, while UOB added S$0.09 or 0.3 per cent to S$26.22.

Over on Wall Street, stocks finished marginally higher on Wednesday, as oil-linked equities continued to rally and movie theatre chain AMC Entertainment soared on an extended buying spree by retail investors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.1 per cent at 34,600.38. The broad-based S&P 500 also advanced 0.1 per cent to close at 4,208.12, as did the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index, which ended at 13,756.33.

European stocks stayed near record levels at Wednesday's close, helped by energy and consumer counters. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.3 per cent higher, holding just below its all-time high hit in the previous session.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened marginally higher on Thursday after subdued trading on Wall Street. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.1 per cent or 33.43 points at 28,979.57 in early trade, while the broader Topix index gained 0.4 per cent or 7.08 points to 1,949.41.