Companies & Markets

Singapore shares advance after Nasdaq ends at record; STI up 0.4% at Thursday's open

Published Thu, Jan 9, 2020 · 01:32 AM

SINGAPORE shares opened higher on Thursday tracking Wall Street stocks overnight, after US President Donald Trump seemed to tone down his rhetoric against Iran.

The benchmark Straits Times Index gained 0.4 per cent, or 12.83 points to 3,258.72 as at 9.01am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 89 to 17, after about 57.8 million shares worth S$77.1 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, ASTI gained 10.2 per cent, or 0.5 Singapore cent to 5.4 cents, while Moya Asia added 5.6 per cent, or 0.5 Singapore cent to 9.4 cents. Both counters had about 4.7 million shares changing hands each.

Banking stocks were also back in the green, following a mixed close on Wednesday. DBS edged up 0.2 per cent, or six Singapore cents to S$25.79, OCBC added 0.6 per cent, or seven Singapore cents to S$11.08, while UOB gained 0.6 per cent, or 15 Singapore cents to S$26.87.

In a regulatory filing on Wednesday evening, OCBC said it has priced A$150 million (S$139.5 million) of senior floating-rate notes due 2022, under its US$30 billion global medium term note programme. Separately, the lender has also hired former HSBC Greater China chief, Helen Wong, to lead its new wholesale banking unit, effective Feb 3.

Other active index stocks on the Singapore bourse included Yangzijiang Shipbuilding which rose 2.6 per cent, or three Singapore cents to S$1.19, and CapitaLand Mall Trust which was up 1.2 per cent, or three Singapore cents to S$2.51.

Over in the US, the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index surged to a fresh record on Wednesday, advancing 0.7 per cent by the closing bell, after the US and Iran appeared to be stepping back from a deeper military conflict. The Dow also gained 0.6 per cent, while the broad-based S&P 500 finished up 0.5 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, stocks also rallied, taking the cue from the US overnight.

Japan's Topix rose 1.2 per cent and South Korea's Kospi added 1.4 per cent, while Australia stocks gained 1 per cent, data from Bloomberg showed.