Singapore shares advance at Thursday’s open, tracking global gains; STI up 0.5%

SINGAPORE stocks opened stronger on Thursday (Oct 12) following overnight gains in global markets, ahead of the release of US key consumer inflation data.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.5 per cent or 14.64 points to 3,207.51 as at 9.02 am. Gainers outnumbered losers 73 to 32 after 44.2 million securities worth S$63.8 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was UMS Group , which gained 2.3 per cent or S$0.03 to S$1.34 with 3.7 million shares transacted. Another active counter was Seatrium, which held steady at S$0.128 with 2.7 million shares traded. Genting Singapore was also heavily traded, advancing 1.2 per cent or S$0.01 to S$0.85 with 2.3 million shares changing hands.

Banking stocks rose on Thursday morning. DBS was trading 0.7 per cent or S$0.25 higher at S$33.97. UOB climbed 0.5 per cent or S$0.14 to S$28.64, while OCBC gained 0.5 per cent or S$0.07 to S$13.07.

US indices closed higher on Wednesday, while investors expect the US consumer price index to be released on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.2 per cent up at 33,804.87. The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.4 per cent to 4,376.95, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.7 per cent to 13,659.68.

In Europe, gains in the shares of drug giant Novo Nordisk offset losses of luxury brands. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.2 per cent to 453.16, to hit a near three-week high.