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

SINGAPORE stocks were pulled into positive territory on Monday (Jan 15), supported by gains from bank stocks and other index counters.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) headed up 0.3 per cent or 10.6 points to 3,202.32 as at 9.01 am. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 82 to 37, after 52.9 million securities worth S$46.7 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was Thai Beverage Public Company , which held steady at S$0.535 with 6.3 million shares traded.

Other heavily traded securities included Seatrium , which lost 0.9 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.112, and Hutchison Port Holdings Trust , which remained unchanged at US$0.155 with three million units traded.

Banking stocks rose in early morning trade. DBS was trading up 0.5 per cent or S$0.17 at S$32.78, UOB was up 0.6 per cent or S$0.18 at S$28.48, and OCBC rose 0.4 per cent or S$0.05 to S$12.93.

Other active index counters included CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust , which added 1 per cent or S$0.02 to S$2.03, and Singtel , which was up 0.8 per cent or S$0.02 at S$2.43.

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Stocks on Wall Street closed on Friday mixed amid better inflation data and mixed corporate earnings. US wholesale prices inched down 0.1 per cent in December, countering a Thursday report which indicated a rise in consumer prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3 per cent to 37,592.98. The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.1 per cent to 4,783.83, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index closed flat at 14,972.76.

European shares finished the week higher on Friday following a drop in bond yields, and hopes of early interest rate cuts from major central banks. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index ended 0.8 per cent higher, snapping a three-day losing streak, but ended flat on the week.