Singapore shares open stronger on Thursday; STI up 0.2%

SINGAPORE shares opened on a positive note on Thursday (Mar 9) morning after Wall Street equities ended mixed overnight.

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) gained 5.06 points or 0.2 per cent to 3,231.92. Gainers outnumbered losers 49 to 24 after 40.1 million securities worth S$27.5 million changed hands.

Sembcorp Marine saw the highest volumes with 22.2 million shares moved in early trade, adding S$0.002 or 1.9 per cent to S$0.11.

Shares of Golden Agri-Resources and Yangzijiang Financial Holding were also actively transacted. Palm oil company Golden Agri-Resources remained unchanged at the open at S$0.29, while the recently spun-off financial unit of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding rose S$0.005 or 1.3 per cent to trade at S$0.385.

The trio of local banks saw mixed activity at the open, with DBS down S$0.03 or 0.1 per cent at S$33.68. UOB and OCBC each gained 0.1 per cent; UOB was up S$0.04 to S$29.51, while OCBC rose S$0.01 to S$12.56.

US stocks concluded a choppy session of trading mixed on Wednesday as markets weighed recession fears.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.2 per cent at 32,798.40. The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.1 per cent at 3,992.01, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.4 per cent to 11,576.00.

Over in Europe, shares were trading muted as investors assessed the eurozone’s fourth-quarter growth numbers.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index nonetheless closed 0.1 per cent higher after hitting its lowest level in a week, likely helped by chairman Jerome Powell’s latest comments that the US Federal Reserve had not decided on the size of this month’s rate hike.