Singapore shares upbeat at Thursday’s open; STI gains 0.6%

SINGAPORE shares were a sea of green on Thursday (Dec 1), extending Wall Street gains after the Fed on Wednesday fuelled investor hopes of a more modest rate hike from the central bank.

The Straits Times Index rose 0.6 per cent or 20.3 points to 3,310.79 at 9 am, after 65.1 million securities worth S$108.2 million changed hands. Advancers outweighed decliners 117 to 15.

Sembcorp Marine was the most active counter by volume. Its shares rose 1.5 per cent or S$0.002 to S$0.14 as 21.4 million shares were traded on the Singapore bourse.

Other heavily traded counters include Yangzijiang Financial Holding , which gained 1.5 per cent or S$0.005 to S$0.35 as 5.7 million shares changed hands, and property investment and development group Adventus , whose dipped 12.5 per cent, or S$0.001, to S$0.007 after 4.6 million shares were traded on the market.

Index counter Yangzijiang Shipbuilding also saw brisk trading on Thursday morning. The group’s shares started the day unchanged at S$1.43 with 2.2 million securities traded.

The trio of local banks were up during morning trade. DBS rose 0.4 per cent or S$0.13 to S$35.32, UOB gained 0.2 per cent or S$0.07 to S$31.27 and OCBC grew 0.3 per cent or S$0.04 to S$12.48 as at 9.03 am.

In the US, stocks soared on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled a moderation from the central bank’s aggressive posture to counter inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 2.2 per cent at 34,589.77, an increase of nearly 740 points. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 3.1 per cent to 4,080.11, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 4.4 per cent to 11,468.00.

European shares also closed higher on Wednesday, registering its second straight month of gains on hopes of easing Covid-19 curbs in China and after cooler euro zone inflation data bolstered case for smaller rate hikes by the European Central Bank.

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The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.6 per cent to end November with a 6.8 per cent gain, its best monthly performance since July.