Singapore stocks open higher on Friday; STI up 0.2%

SINGAPORE shares opened higher on Friday (May 19) following overall gains in the global markets.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.2 per cent or 7.73 points to 3,190.28 at 9.02 am. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 60 to 47 with 28.3 million securities worth S$45.2 million changing hands.

Genting Singapore was the top-traded counter by volume with 2.72 million shares transacted, gaining 1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.02.

Marco Polo Marine was also briskly traded, down 2.1 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.047.

Index counter Singapore Airlines was up 0.7 per cent or S$0.04 to S$6.13 after it posted news of its bonus sharing with staff the previous day.

The trio of local banks opened in positive territory on Friday, with DBS up 0.3 per cent or S$0.08 to S$30.52. UOB gained 0.3 per cent or S$0.08 to S$27.78, while OCBC saw an increase of S$0.06 or 0.5 per cent to S$12.20.

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Stocks to watch: Jardine Matheson, Hongkong Land, DFI Retail, NetLink, Sembcorp

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US indices closed Thursday higher on the back of better-than-expected results from Walmart’s earnings, as well as optimism over the future potential for artificial intelligence (AI) with the app-based version of popular AI assistant ChatGPT.

The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.5 per cent to 12,688.84. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.9 per cent to 4,198.05 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 0.3 per cent higher at 33,535.91. 

The European Stoxx 600 ended 0.4 per cent higher to 465.79 points with optimism that the US debt ceiling could see a breakthrough. The index also saw strong buying activities in its automobiles and technology sectors.