Singapore stocks open little changed on Wednesday; STI up 0.04%

SINGAPORE shares started Wednesday (Jun 7) on a muted, albeit positive, note following overnight gains on Wall Street and in Europe.

The Straits Times Index (STI) was up by 1.23 points or 0.04 per cent to 3,191.34 as at 9.01 am. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 62 to 36 after 33 million securities worth S$46.7 million changed hands.

Index stock Thai Beverage was the most active counter by volume, though its share price remained unchanged at S$0.55 after 6.1 million securities moved.

Thomson Medical was unchanged as well at S$0.06, despite brisk trading activity.

Shares of Genting Singapore were also actively transacted. The index counter fell S$0.005 or 0.5 per cent to S$0.97 in early trade.

The trio of local banks were mixed at the open. DBS rose S$0.01 or less than 0.1 per cent to S$31.17. UOB was up S$0.07 or 0.3 per cent at S$28.19, while OCBC lost S$0.01 or 0.1 per cent to trade at S$12.34. 

Wall Street stocks ended Tuesday higher as beaten-down regional banking shares advanced on a quiet day for markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up less than 0.1 per cent to 33,573.28.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.2 per cent to 4,283.85, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.4 per cent to 13,276.42.

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Indices in Europe also closed on Tuesday in positive territory, lifted by a jump in shares of health-care giant Novo Nordisk as trading resumed following a holiday in Copenhagen.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index ended 0.4 per cent up at 461.68.