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

SINGAPORE stocks opened higher on Thursday, tracking the gains on Wall Street from the previous day's close.

The Straits Times Index (STI) gained 0.6 per cent or 17.62 points to 3,172.68 as at 9.02am.

Gainers outnumbered decliners 109 to 33 after 46.6 million securities worth S$46 million changed hands at 9.02am.

Sembcorp Marine shares were the most actively traded securities by volume, with 9.1 million shares being traded at 9.03am. The counter rose 2.4 per cent or 0.5 Singapore cent to 21 cents.

The trio of local banks were trading higher on Thursday morning. DBS was up 1 per cent or S$0.27 to S$28.67. UOB rose 0.7 per cent or S$0.19 to S$25.98 and OCBC gained 1.3 per cent or S$0.15 to S$11.87 as at 9.06am.

Over on Wall Street, markets closed higher following lows over the last two days.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.9 per cent to 34,137.31.

The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.7 per cent to 4,173.44, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index surged 1.2 per cent to 13,950.22.

European shares closed higher on Wednesday as optimism about a strong earnings season countered worries about a rapid rise in Covid-19 cases in some countries.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.7 per cent to 436.64.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher, tracking the gains on Wall Street from the previous day.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 1.3 per cent or 381.75 points at 28,890.30 in early trade, while the broader Topix index advanced 1.2 per cent or 22.29 points to 1,910.47.