Singapore stocks rise at Thursday's open; STI up 0.6%

SINGAPORE stocks opened higher on Thursday morning.

The Straits Times Index (STI) was up 0.6 per cent or 19.49 points to 3,184.83 as at 9.01 am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 99 to 18 after 78.5 million securities worth S$67.6 million changed hands.

Furniture and lightings distributor P5 Capital Holdings was the most actively traded counter by volume, with 27.2 million shares traded as at 9.02 am. The counter was up 2.7 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to 3.8 cents.

Among index counters, City Developments was the top gainer - rising 2 per cent or S$0.16 to S$8.14 as at 9.05am. Mapletree Commercial Trust was the top loser, down 0.5 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.11.

The trio of local banks were trading higher on Thursday morning. DBS was up 0.5 per cent or S$0.15 to S$28.94 as at 9.05am. UOB rose 0.3 per cent or S$0.08 to S$25.91, and OCBC rose 0.5 per cent or S$0.06 to S$11.81.

US markets had closed mixed, with the Dow sliding but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq advancing. This comes as President Joe Biden unveiled a US$2 trillion infrastructure spending plan.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 85.41 points, or 0.3 per cent to 32,981.55. The S&P 500 gained 14.34 points, or 0.4 per cent to 3,972.89. And the Nasdaq Composite added 201.48 points, or 1.5 per cent to 13,246.87.

In Europe, delivery app Deliveroo tumbled 30 per cent in its London initial public offering. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index dipped 0.1 per cent to 430.1 points.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 1 per cent or 277.13 points at 29,455.93 in early trade, while the broader Topix index advanced 1 per cent or 18.71 points to 1,972.71.