Singapore shares open higher on Wednesday, STI up 0.1% to 3,253.24

SINGAPORE shares opened slightly higher on Wednesday, with the Straits Times Index gaining 0.1 per cent, or 4.61 points to 3,253.24 as at 9.01am.

This comes after Wall Street stocks edged up to close at record highs overnight, amid signs that the trade war between the world's two largest economies is easing. The Dow gained 0.1 per cent, the broad-based S&P 500 dipped 0.1 per cent, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was little changed.

On the Singapore bourse, gainers outnumbered losers 55 to 44, after about 59.7 million shares worth S$52.3 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Alpha Energy Holdings soared 29.4 per cent, or one Singapore cent to 4.4 cents, with 44.6 million shares traded. The Business Times on Tuesday reported that the Catalist-listed firm's core asset, the Mustang well in Alaska's oil-rich North Slope, has struck "first oil" in production as well as sales under an offtake pact with an oil major.

Meanwhile, Rex International gained 1.6 per cent, or 0.2 cent to 12.7 cents, with 6.4 million shares traded.

Banking stocks were mixed in the early morning trade: DBS gained 0.3 per cent, or nine cents to S$26.26, United Overseas Bank added 0.3 per cent, or seven cents to S$26.84, while OCBC Bank slipped 0.4 per cent, or four cents to S$11.04.

Other active stocks included StarHub which rose 3.8 per cent, or five cents to S$1.37, and Jardine Matheson Holdings which was up 1.2 per cent, or 68 US cents to US$57.01.

Elsewhere, Asian equities were mixed as investors weighed new developments in the US-China trade discussions.

Japanese stocks were little changed, South Korea's Kospi gained 0.1 per cent, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index inched up 0.1 per cent.