Singapore shares rise at Friday’s open; STI up 0.3%

SINGAPORE stocks were pulled into positive territory on Friday (Dec 1), after stock markets in the US and Europe ended mostly higher overnight.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.3 per cent or 7.53 points to 3,080.52 as at 9.02 am. Across the broader market, losers slightly outnumbered gainers, at 56 to 53, after 54.7 million securities worth S$82.4 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was Seatrium , which held steady at S$0.105 with 21.6 million shares traded as at 9.03 am.

Other heavily traded securities included CapitaLand Ascendas Reit , which was flat at S$2.84 with 3.5 million units transacted, and Genting Singapore, which remained unchanged at S$0.915 with 3.1 million shares changing hands.

Banking stocks rose in early morning trade. DBS climbed 0.8 per cent or S$0.24 to S$31.98, UOB was up 0.1 per cent or S$0.03 at S$27.25, while OCBC added 0.3 per cent or S$0.04 to S$12.58 as at 9.03 am.

Wall Street stocks ended mixed on Thursday, after fresh inflation data was released. Although the Fed’s favoured measure of annual inflation recorded a steep drop in October, the drop was less pronounced after removing volatile food and energy price data.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a new high for the year, closing 1.5 per cent higher at 35,950.89. The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.4 per cent to finish at 4,567.8, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.2 per cent to 14,226.22.

European shares hit a more than two-month high on Thursday, as investors bet on interest rate cuts by central banks following data that showed a drop in inflation in the US and Europe.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended 0.6 per cent higher at 461.61, recording its biggest monthly jump since January. Rate-sensitive real estate and technology stocks advanced 14.7 per cent each for the month.