Singapore shares advance after US stimulus Bill; STI up 0.3%

SINGAPORE shares opened stronger on Thursday, with the Dow ending at a record high overnight after the US Congress approved a US$1.9 trillion economic relief package.

Jeffrey Halley, Oanda's senior market analyst told The Business Times that Singapore stocks started the day on a positive note following the cyclical rotation that continued on Wall Street overnight.

"Chief drivers for optimism were the Biden stimulus passing its last reading in the House of Representatives, due to be signed by the president tomorrow."

In addition, US and China officials are set to meet in Alaska, raising hopes that Sino-US relations can improve, while US inflation and the US 10-year bond auction passed without incident, he said.

"All in all, Asian markets will have plenty of reasons to cheer this morning," added Mr Halley.

On the Singapore bourse, the key Straits Times Index (STI) rose 9.14 points or 0.3 per cent to 3,088.86 as at 9.03am. Gainers outnumbered losers 104 to 38, after 89.9 million securities worth S$84.9 million changed hands.

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The most heavily traded counter by volume was Oceanus, which advanced 0.3 Singapore cent or 13 per cent to 2.6 cents, with 33.3 million shares traded. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding edged up S$0.03 or 2.6 per cent to S$1.18, with 19.5 million shares traded.

The trio of local lenders were mostly up in early trade. DBS gained S$0.22 or 0.8 per cent to S$28.06, UOB added S$0.05 or 0.2 per cent to S$25.41, while OCBC was flat at S$11.67.

Other active stocks included Del Monte Pacific which jumped 1.5 Singapore cents or 5.8 per cent to 27.5 cents. This comes after the canned-food brand on Wednesday reported a net profit of US$30.2 million for the third quarter ended Jan 31 - nearly five times that a year ago when its earnings were weighed down by one-off expenses.

Meanwhile, Union Gas edged up 1.5 Singapore cents or 2.2 per cent to 71 cents. The group on Wednesday said it has signed a non-binding letter of intent with Worldbridge Industrial Developments for a proposed joint venture to supply and distribute liquefied petroleum gas in Cambodia by the end of this year. This will mark Union Gas's first foray into Cambodia.

Over on Wall Street, the Dow rocketed to a fresh record on Wednesday after Congress approved a US$1.9 trillion economic relief package. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.5 per cent to 32,297.02, propped up by positive moves in traditional industrial companies like Boeing and financial heavyweights like Goldman Sachs.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.6 per cent to 3,898.81, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped less than 0.1 per cent to 13,068.83.

Europe's main index hovered near pre-pandemic highs on Wednesday, lifted by defensive sectors and Adidas. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.4 per cent after a rally in tech shares on Tuesday pushed the benchmark to its highest level since February 2020.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo shares opened marginally higher on Thursday, supported by rallies on US key indices, with investors remaining cautious ahead of the European Central Bank (ECB) monetary decision.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up just 0.05 per cent or 13.77 points at 29,050.33 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was up 0.01 per cent or 0.22 points at 1,919.96.

Said DailyFX strategist Margaret Yang: "Looking ahead, the ECB interest rate decision and press conference headline the economic docket, alongside US weekly initial jobless claims data.

"The ECB is widely expected to keep the policy interest rate unchanged, but traders will closely scrutinise whether or not the central bank will twist its bond-purchasing programme to address rising longer-term yields."