Singapore stocks start the week higher, STI up 0.2%

SINGAPORE stocks opened stronger in early trade on Monday (Jan 16), following a strong showing in the US and Europe markets.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.2 per cent or 6.14 points to 3,299.89 as at 9.01 am. Gainers outnumbered losers 84 to 39 after 39.1 million securities worth S$64.2 million changed hands.

Sembcorp Marine was the most actively traded stock with 8.3 million shares traded. Its share price remained unmoved at S$0.139.

Index counter Singtel rose 0.4 per cent or 0.01 to S$2.51, with 2.2 million shares traded.

At the same time, Mapletree PanAsia Commercial Trust rose 0.6 per cent or 0.01 to S$1.76. A total of 875,800 units were traded.

The trio of local banks saw gains overnight. DBS rose 0.4 per cent or 0.1 to S$34.96 while OCBC rose 0.2 per cent or 0.03 to S$12.67. Meanwhile, UOB gained 0.1 per cent or 0.04 to S$30.57.

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On Wall Street, all saw strong gains for the week, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index closed at their highest levels in a month last Friday. The S&P 500 rose 0.4 per cent to 3,999.09 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.7 per cent to 11,079.16. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3 per cent to 34,302.61.

Similarly, shares in Europe also closed near a nine-month high on Friday, with Stoxx 600 gaining 0.5 per cent to outperform their US peers.