Singapore shares open flat on Wednesday; STI up 0.7%

SINGAPORE stocks opened flat on Wednesday, with the Straits Times Index gaining 0.7 per cent or 24.82 points to 3,565.21 as at 9am.

Overnight, Wall Street stocks stumbled after congressional testimony from new Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell revived worries about higher interest rates, AFP reported. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.2 per cent to finish at 25,410.03; the broad-based S&P 500 dropped 1.3 per cent to end the day at 2,744.28, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 1.2 per cent to 7,330.35.

On the Singapore bourse, about 99.6 million shares worth S$332.2 million changed hands. Losers outnumbered gainers 77 to 49.

Active stocks included LionGold, Singtel and Golden Agri-Resources.