Singapore stocks rise at Wednesday’s open; STI up 0.8%

SINGAPORE stocks rose in early trade on Wednesday (Nov 23), mirroring Wall Street gains ahead of the holiday shopping season.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.8 per cent or 24.32 points to 3,283.88 as at 9.01 am. Gainers outnumbered losers 91 to 27 after 31.6 million securities worth S$50.8 million changed hands.

Shares of Yangzijiang Financial were the most actively traded security by volume on Wednesday morning, with 4.7 million shares changing hands as at 9.01 am. The counter rose 2.9 per cent or S$0.01 to S$0.35. The company announced on Tuesday that it will be investing S$80 million into a fund to help Singaporean and South-east Asian small and medium-sized enterprises grow.

ComfortDelGro also saw brisk trading activity, with 1.6 million shares transacted as at 9.01 am. The counter fell 0.8 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.24.

Singtel was the top gainer on Wednesday morning, rising 1.9 per cent or S$0.05 to S$2.74 as at 9.01 am.

The trio of local banks was also trading higher on Wednesday morning. DBS was up 0.1 per cent or S$0.05 at S$35.63, while UOB rose 0.8 per cent or S$0.23 to S$30.34. OCBC gained 0.8 per cent or S$0.10 to stand at S$12.53 as at 9.01 am.

In the US, Wall Street stocks were propelled by solid tech gains on Tuesday as markets digested generally good retailer earnings ahead of the holiday shopping season. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped nearly 400 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 34,098.10. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.4 per cent to 4,003.58, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index also advanced 1.4 per cent to 11,174.41.

European shares also rose on Tuesday, lifted by rallying oil stocks after a rout in the previous session, as investors looked towards the next batch of data for clues on the health of the continent amidst mixed signals from policymakers on the path of interest rates.

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The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.7 per cent higher after hitting its strongest levels in three months earlier in the day.