Singapore stocks open higher on Monday tracking global gains; STI up 0.2%

SINGAPORE stocks started the week in positive territory, after markets in the US and Europe closed higher on Friday (Jun 30).

Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.2 per cent or 6.72 points to 3,212.63 as at 9.02 am on Monday. Gainers outnumbered losers 83 to 38, or about two securities up for every one down, after 64.8 million securities worth S$53.4 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was Seatrium , which held steady at S$0.125 with 19.2 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded securities included Thai Beverage , which remained unchanged at S$0.58, with 5.7 million shares transacted, and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding , which rose 0.7 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.51.

Banking stocks traded mixed on Monday morning. DBS gained 0.5 per cent or S$0.15 to S$31.66, while OCBC advanced 0.2 per cent or S$0.02 to S$12.30. UOB lost 0.2 per cent or S$0.06 to S$27.94.

Wall Street stocks finished higher on Friday, as investors cheered an improvement in inflation data. The personal consumption expenditures index measure of inflation eased to 3.8 per cent year on year in May, a significant drop from 4.3 per cent a month earlier.

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The broad-based S&P 500 finished 1.2 per cent higher at 4,450.38, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8 per cent to 34,407.6 and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.5 per cent to 13,787.92.

European shares also advanced on Friday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index closing 1.2 per cent higher at 461.93.