Singapore shares open higher on Monday; STI up 0.35% to 3,125.79

SINGAPORE shares started Monday on higher ground after the US market closed strongly on Friday, following a chaotic week for global equities. The Straits Times Index gained 10.76 points or 0.35 per cent to 3,125.79 as at 9.04am.

About 54.5 million shares worth about S$59.5 million changed hands, which worked out to an average unit price of about S$1.09 per share.

Gainers outnumbered losers 96 to 28.

The most actively traded security was Yangzijiang Shipbuilding whose shares rose S$0.04 or 4 per cent at S$1.03 with 12.9 million shares changing hands.

The stock, which slid 17.3 per cent on Thursday to a two and a half year low after a week-long trading halt and news its chairman is assisting with investigations by the Chinese government, had rebounded on Friday by 15.1 per cent after share buyback transactions.

Other actives included Rex International, which traded up S$0.006 or 8.8 per cent to S$0.074 after it declared a US$70.8m war chest on Monday, and said it is looking to monetise its Oman asset by end-2019.

Among financials, all three local banks were in the green. DBS advanced S$0.10 or 0.4 per cent to S$24.80, OCBC shares gained S$0.05 or 0.5 per cent to S$10.68 and UOB edged up S$0.01 or 0.04 per cent to S$25.05.

Among other STI index members, Ascendas Reit units traded up S$0.02 or 0.7 per cent to S$3.05 while Keppel Corp was up S$0.05 or 0.9 per cent to S$5.94.

Wall Street stocks rebounded on Friday as an ebbing bond rally and news of potential German economic stimulus brought buyers back to the equities market after a tumultuous week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 306.62 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 25,886.01, the S&P 500 gained 41.09 points, or 1.44 per cent, to 2,888.69 and the Nasdaq Composite added 129.38 points, or 1.67 per cent, to 7,895.99.

In Europe, potential German economic stimulus also drove stocks higher on Friday, with battered bank stocks having their best day in four and a half months. Germany's DAX rose 1.3 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index opened up 0.90 per cent on Monday as Tokyo tracked Wall Street's rally.