Singapore stocks rise at Friday’s open; STI up 0.1%

SINGAPORE stocks rose in early trade on Friday (Mar 31) after global indices rallied overnight. 

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.1 per cent or 3.33 points to 3,260.51 as at 9.01 am.

Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 64 to 39 after 38.8 million securities worth S$45.6 million changed hands.

Sembcorp Marine was the most actively traded counter in terms of volume on Friday morning, with 27.7 million shares changing hands at the open. 

This came after the company announced it had secured contracts for offshore renewable projects worth up to six billion euros (S$8.7 billion). The counter was down 0.9 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.114.

Among index counters, Mapletree Logistics Trust was among the top traded on Friday morning after announcing that its private placement closed at the issue price of S$1.649 per unit. units of the real estate investment trust fell 2.4 per cent or S$0.04 to S$1.66.  

Genting Singapore was also among the top five actively traded counters in terms of volume. Its shares were up 0.9 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.10 in early trade. 

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding was another actively traded index stock. The counter was down 0.8 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.20.

The trio of local banks were trading mixed in the morning. DBS was down 0.1 per cent or S$0.02 to S$33.48, while UOB gained 0.4 per cent or S$0.12 to S$29.96. OCBC was up 0.6 per cent or S$0.07 at S$12.46.  

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Singapore shares fall at Thursday’s open; STI down 0.1%

US markets closed higher on Thursday as fears of the banking crisis eased.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.4 per cent at 32,859.03. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.6 per cent to 4,050.83, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.7 per cent to 12,013.47.

Over in Europe, shares rallied to near three-week highs on Thursday after concerns about the global banking sector faded.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 1 per cent to end at 454.84.