Singapore stocks open higher on Friday; STI up 0.1%

SINGAPORE stocks rose in early trade on Friday (Feb 24), following gains in US and Europe markets.  

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.1 per cent or 3.06 points to 3,267.99 as at 9.01 am. Gainers outnumbered losers 66 to 50 after 79.2 million securities worth S$57.1 million changed hands. 

Sembcorp Marine was the most actively traded counter on Friday morning, with 39.4 million of its securities changing hands. It was up 1.6 per cent or S$0.002 at S$0.13. 

The Place Holding was also briskly traded in terms of volume, with 19.9 million shares transacted. The mainboard-listed counter remained flat at S$0.013. 

Singtel was also among the top five actively traded counters in terms of volume, with 2.2 million of its shares changing hands. The telecommunications company was up 0.8 per cent or S$0.02 at S$2.43.

The three local banks were mixed on Friday morning. UOB lost 0.7 per cent or S$0.20 to S$29.42, while OCBC gained 0.2 per cent or S$0.02 to S$12.66. Meanwhile, DBS remained unchanged at S$34.34. 

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Singapore stocks fall amid mixed regional showing; STI down 1.1%

Wall Street stocks ended higher on Friday, following a midday swoon before recovering. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3 per cent to close at 33,153.91, while the broad-based S&P 500 increased 0.5 per cent to 4,012.32. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.7 per cent to 11,590.4. 

Europe shares ended higher, boosted by financial stocks, upbeat guidance by regional companies, as well as a positive sales forecast by US semiconductor designer Navida, which led to a rise in chip stocks. The Stoxx 600 rose 0.1 per cent to close at 462.5.