Singapore shares open almost flat on Friday; STI up 0.01%

SINGAPORE shares opened barely higher on Friday despite all three major US market indices closing at all-time highs on Thursday. Singapore's Straits Times Index gained 0.21 point or 0.01 per cent to 3,278.21 as at 9.05am.

Still, gainers easily outnumbered losers 104 to 31, after 85.8 million securities worth S$71.1 million changed hands.

Rex International was the most traded counter by volume in the morning, rising S$0.006 or 3.3 per cent to S$0.187 after 11.5 million shares were traded. It said on Thursday night its unit Lime Petroleum had clinched stakes in two new offshore licences in the Norwegian Sea.

Other actives included AsiaPhos which increased S$0.001 or 3.6 per cent to S$0.029 with 6.6 million shares changing hands, and BlackGold Natural Resources flat at S$0.016 on 5.9 million shares traded.

Meanwhile, BreadTalk slid S$0.05 or 7.3 per cent to S$0.64 after guiding for a net loss for its fiscal 2019 ended December due to weakness in its bakery and food concept divisions, and turmoil in Hong Kong.

ST Engineering was the most traded security by value, up S$0.04 or 1 per cent to S$4.21 with 1.5 million shares changing hands.

All three local banks rose in early trade. DBS gained S$0.06 or 0.2 per cent to S$26.39, OCBC was up S$0.03 or 0.3 per cent to S$11.14, while UOB increased S$0.02 or 0.1 per cent to S$26.87.

Wall Street stocks surged to fresh records on Thursday after the US Senate approved a new North American trade pact, adding to the momentum from the US-China trade deal.

All three major indices finished at all-time highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.9 per cent at 29,297.64, the broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.8 per cent to 3,316.81 and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.1 per cent to 9,357.13.

One of the notable winners was Google parent Alphabet, which rose 0.9 per cent to top US$1 trillion in market capitalisation, joining Apple and Microsoft in the elite group.

In Europe, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed up 0.2 per cent following the signing of the long anticipated Phase One US-China trade deal.

In other Asian markets, Tokyo opened higher as its Nikkei 225 index added 0.76 per cent or 181.87 points to 24,115.00, while the broader Topix index gained 0.49 per cent or 8.45 points to 1,737.17.