Singapore stocks rise at Monday’s open; STI up 0.1%

SINGAPORE stocks rose in early trade on Monday (Nov 7), the morning after Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party concluded its biennial party conference.

The Straits Times Index tracked Wall Street gains to rise 0.1 per cent or 4.52 points to 3,134.63 as at 9.01 am. 

Gainers outnumbered losers 73 to 34 after 37.3 million securities worth S$74.3 million changed hands.

ComfortDelGro was the top traded counter by volume on Monday morning, with 5.4 million shares changing hands as at 9.01 am. The transport operator rose 1.5 per cent or S$0.02 to S$1.34 after news that it secured three metropolitan bus contracts in Sydney worth some A$1.7 billion (S$1.5 billion) in total. 

Sembcorp Marine also saw brisk trading activity at the open, with 3 million shares transacted. The counter gained 0.8 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.14.

Singapore Airlines was among the top three traded counters by value, following news of record operating profits for both its second quarter and first half financial year ending Mar 31, 2023. The index counter rose 1.7 per cent or S$0.09 to S$5.43.

The trio of local banks were also trading higher on Monday morning. UOB was up 0.1 per cent or S$0.04 to S$28.44, while DBS gained 0.3 per cent or S$0.1 to stand at S$34.57. OCBC rose 0.5 per cent or S$0.06 to S$12.1.

In the US, stocks finished sharply higher Friday, ending a four-day losing streak surrounding the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate hike. The gains came on the back of good jobs data that was seen as keeping the pressure on the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates more. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 1.3 per cent higher at 32,403.22. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.4 per cent to 3,770.55, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 1.3 per cent to 10,475.25.

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Stocks to watch: SIA, ComfortDelGro, Lendlease, ST Engineering, Venture Corp, AEM, Metech International

Meanwhile, European stocks rallied on Friday after US jobs data backed bets that the Federal Reserve would deliver smaller rate hikes. 

The Stoxx 600 closed 1.8 per cent higher, with basic resources, personal and household goods, and automakers leading a broad rally. This marked the fourth straight week of gains.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened Monday higher as global market sentiment improved on solid US jobs data and hopes for an economic reopening in China.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.7 per cent or 178.65 points at 27,378.39 in early trade, while the broader Topix index rose 0.8 per cent or 14.27 points to 1,929.67.