Singapore shares rise at Wednesday’s open; STI up 0.5%

SINGAPORE stocks were pulled into positive territory on Wednesday (Sep 6), bucking a global selloff on Wall Street and Europe amid cautious investor trading.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.5 per cent or 15.45 points to 3,242.28 as at 9.01 am. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 51 to 44, after 30.3 million securities worth S$48.6 million changed hands.

One of the most active counters by volume was Seatrium , which held steady at S$0.144 with 2.7 million shares traded.

Other heavily traded securities included Rex International , which gained 1.9 per cent or S$0.003 to S$0.16 and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding , which was up 0.6 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.67, with 2.4 million shares traded.

Singtel lost 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 to reach S$2.34, with 2.2 million shares traded. GXBank, the telco’s digital bank joint venture with Grab, on Tuesday said it obtained approval to start operations in Malaysia from Sep 1.

Banking stocks rose in early morning trade. DBS climbed 0.7 per cent or S$0.24 to S$33.57, UOB was up 0.6 per cent or S$0.17 to S$28.70, while OCBC rose 1 per cent, or S$0.12 to S$12.69.

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US stocks retreated on Tuesday as oil prices and treasury bonds climbed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.6 per cent to close at 34,641.97, while the broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.4 per cent to 4,496.83. Meanwhile, the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index finished 0.1 per cent lower at 14,020.95.

Shares in Europe ended weaker on Tuesday amid concerns of slowing global growth following weak services sector data from China and the eurozone. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.2 per cent lower, recording its fifth straight session of decline.