Singapore shares open higher following US market rally; STI up 1.5%

SINGAPORE shares opened higher on Wednesday after the US market rallied overnight on expectations for massive federal stimulus.

The Straits Times Index gained 37.01 points or 1.5 per cent to 2,491.54 as at 9.05am.

Gainers doubled losers 124 to 62, after 79 million securities worth S$135.1 million changed hands.

CapitaLand Commercial Trust was the most traded by volume in the morning, rising S$0.01 or 0.7 per cent to S$1.56 after 4.1 million units were traded.

Other actives included Rex International which was flat at 12.1 Singapore cents with four million shares changing hands, and Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (Ascendas Reit) which gained S$0.06 or 2.3 per cent to S$2.66 on 3.2 million units traded.

Active trading of Reits on Wednesday morning comes after Maybank Kim Eng said it remains positive on the outlook of Singapore Reits.

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Meanwhile, Singtel traded unchanged at S$2.49.

All three local banks gained ground, as DBS rose S$0.14 or 0.8 per cent to S$18.14, OCBC increased S$0.04 or 0.5 per cent to S$8.65 while UOB was up S$0.12 or 0.6 per cent to S$19.51.

Wall Street stocks rallied on Tuesday on expectations for massive federal stimulus to address the economic hit from the coronavirus, partially recovering some of their losses from the prior session.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 5.2 per cent or around 1,050 points at 21,237.31, a day after shedding almost 3,000 points.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 6.0 per cent to 21,237.31 while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 6.2 per cent to 7,334.78.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 1.18 per cent or 201.06 points at 17,212.59 in early trade, while the broader Topix index edged up 1.29 per cent or 16.37 points to 1,284.83.