Singapore shares inch up at Thursday's open tracking Wall Street gains: STI up 0.1%

SINGAPORE stocks opened slightly higher on Thursday (Oct 21), tracking overnight gains on Wall Street and warding off concerns on the extension of the nation's Stabilisation Phase by 4 more weeks.

The Republic's mult-ministry taskforce on Wednesday (Oct 20) extended the latest Covid-19 restrictions, which started on Sep 7, to Nov 21 from Oct 24 previously. Measures include a 2-person cap on social gatherings and dining at food and beverage establishments.

The multi-ministry taskforce also announced an additional S$640 million support package to help companies and individuals.

On the Singapore bourse, the Straits Times Index (STI) inched up 0.1 per cent or 2.06 points to 3,200.14 as at 9.03am. Gainers outnumbered losers 80 to 45, after 89 million securities worth S$51.4 million changed hands.

One of the most active counters by volume was Rex International 5WH : 5WH 0%, which was up 2.9 per cent or S$0.01 to S$0.355, with 10.9 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded securities included Genting Singapore G13, which slid 1.3 per cent or S$0.01 to S$0.78, with 4.7 million shares traded, as well as Hatten Land PH0 : PH0 0%, which increased 1.4 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.073, with 3.7 million shares traded.

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Banking stocks were mixed in early morning trade. DBS D05 was trading up 0.4 per cent or S$0.11 to S$31.43, UOB U11 was down 0.2 per cent or S$0.05 to S$26.80, while OCBC O39 lo : O39 0%st 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$11.97.

Other active index counters included Singtel Z74, which advanced 1.2 per cent or S$0.03 to S$2.57, as well as the Singapore Exchange S68 : S68 0%, which was down 0.4 per cent or S$0.04 to S$9.59.

In the US, the Dow and S&P 500 again rose on Wednesday, narrowly missing records, following a wave of generally good earnings that have eased worries about inflation and clogged supply chains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 0.4 per cent higher at 35,609.34. The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.4 per cent to end at 4,536.19, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.1 per cent to 15,121.68.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks started Thursday lower, amid worries over rising US bond yields, although overnight gains on Wall Street provided some support. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.5 per cent to 29,110.52, while the broader Topix index declined 0.3 per cent to 2,022.25.