Singapore shares rise at Thursday’s open after Wall Street rally; STI up 0.4%

SINGAPORE shares were pulled into positive territory on Thursday (Nov 2), following overnight gains on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates steady.

On the Singapore bourse, the Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.4 per cent or 11.55 points to 3,088.32 as at 9.01 am. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 105 to 28, after 69.8 million securities worth S$73.4 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was Seatrium , which gained 0.9 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.109 with 32.3 million shares traded.

Other heavily traded securities included Golden Agri-Resources , which climbed 1.9 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.27 with 2.8 million shares traded, and Singtel , which was up 1.7 per cent or S$0.04 to S$2.43 with 2.7 million shares traded.

Banks were mixed in early morning trade. DBS fell 0.6 per cent or S$0.21 to S$32.82, after the Monetary Authority of Singapore on Wednesday imposed a “six-month pause” on DBS’ non-essential IT changes following repeated and prolonged disruptions of its banking services this year.

The regulator also said the bank will not be allowed to acquire new business ventures during this period, or reduce the size of its branch and ATM networks in Singapore. 

UOB , meanwhile, was up 0.7 per cent or S$0.19 to S$27.33, and OCBC advanced 0.5 per cent or S$0.06 to S$12.78.

In the US, shares rallied after the Fed decided to keep interest rates steady and opted against hiking for the second straight time.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.7 per cent higher at 33,274.58, the S&P 500 was up 1.1 per cent to 4,237.86, and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.6 per cent to 13,061.47.

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European shares, meanwhile, finished higher on Wednesday, supported by healthcare and retail stocks. The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended 0.7 per cent higher, logging its third consecutive day of gains.