Singapore shares rise at Wednesday’s open; STI up 0.6%

SINGAPORE stocks began Wednesday (Mar 22) on a healthy footing, following overnight gains in the US and Europe.

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.6 per cent or 20.37 points to 3,194.3. Gainers outnumbered losers 84 to 31, after 77.9 million securities worth S$66.7 million changed hands. 

The most active counter by volume was Sembcorp Marine, which opened flat at S$0.107 with 26.4 million securities traded. Genting Singapore , another heavily traded counter, was up 0.9 per cent or S$0.01 at S$1.08, with 5.4 million shares transacted.

Banking shares opened higher in morning trade. DBS rose 0.9 per cent or S$0.28 to S$33.19. UOB was up 0.6 per cent or S$0.18 at S$28.86, while OCBC gained 0.7 per cent or S$0.09 to S$12.29. 

Index counter Singtel traded 0.8 per cent or S$0.02 higher at S$2.42, and Keppel Reit fell 0.6 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.85. 

Wall Street stocks ended higher as regional banking stocks picked up, with the embattled First Republic Bank recouping some of its losses from earlier this week. The broad-based S&P 500 rose 1.3 per cent to 4,002.87, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1 per cent higher at 32,560.6. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.6 per cent to close at 11,860.11.

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In Europe, shares rose over 1 per cent on Tuesday, also with banking stocks leading the recovery following a raft of measures to stabilise the sector. The pan-European Stoxx 600 climbed 1.3 per cent to 446.47, extending gains after the index sharply recouped intraday losses and closed the session up nearly 1 per cent on Monday.