Singapore shares edge up at Monday’s open; STI up 0.1%

SINGAPORE stocks opened stronger at Monday’s (Jul 10) open, following global markets closing mixed on Friday.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.1 per cent or 1.7 points to 3,141.17 as at 9.02 am. Gainers outnumbered losers 58 to 53, after 75.2 million securities worth S$44.4 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was Seatrium , which rose 1.6 per cent or S$0.002 to S$0.127 with 36.5 million shares transacted.

Other heavily traded securities included Healthway Medical , which lost 2.1 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.046, with 5.9 million shares changing hands, as well as Golden Agri-Resources, which gained 2.1 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.245, with 4.8 million shares traded.

The trio of local banks rose on Monday morning. DBS increased 0.3 per cent or S$0.08 to S$30.75, UOB was up 0.5 per cent or S$0.14 at S$27.54, and OCBC rose 0.3 per cent or S$0.04 to S$12.09.

US indices closed lower on Friday, following mixed employment data of slower hiring but a lower unemployment rate. Rate-hike fears remained due to strong wage growth. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.1 per cent to 13,660.72. The broad-based S&P 500 finished down 0.3 per cent at 4,398.95, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6 per cent to 33,734.88.

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Over in Europe, data of slowing US job growth eased worries about interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, but did not reverse the pressure from the bleak economic data of China and eurozone. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index gained 0.1 per cent to 447.64 on Friday, after data showed the US economy added the fewest jobs in two-and-a-half years in June, but it fell 3.1 per cent for the week, marking its worst performance since mid-March.