Singapore shares rise at Friday’s open, tracking global rally; STI up 0.6%

SINGAPORE stocks were pulled into positive territory on Friday (Jan 19), following overnight gains in global equity markets.

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) rose 19.9 points or 0.6 per cent to 3,159.68.

Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers to 80 to 21 after 34 million securities worth S$65 million changed hands.

Thai Beverage was the most heavily traded counter by volume at the open, rising S$0.005 or 1 per cent to S$0.52, with 5.7 million securities transacted.

Other stocks that saw heavy trading volumes included Seatrium , which rose 0.9 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.115.

The trio of banking stocks rose in early trade. DBS was up 0.6 per cent or S$0.19 at S$32.10, UOB climbed 0.4 per cent or S$0.10 to S$27.98, and OCBC gained 0.9 per cent or S$0.11 to S$12.91.

Wall Street stocks jumped on Thursday, with a rebound in tech propelling major indices into positive territory, and snapping the recent losing streak.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.4 per cent to 15,055.65, and the broad-based S&P 500 ended the day up 0.9 per cent at 4,780.94.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the day 0.5 per cent higher at 37,468.61.

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Over in Europe, shares bounced back on Thursday following three straight sessions of losses, buoyed by Richemont and Flutter’s upbeat results, while investors parsed the European Central Bank’s December policy meeting minutes.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index ended 0.6 per cent higher at 470.45, after falling to a six-week low in the previous session.