Singapore shares open slightly higher on Wednesday; STI up 0.3% to 3,206

SINGAPORE shares inched slightly higher on Wednesday, with the Straits Times Index (STI) gaining 0.3 per cent, or 8.96 points to 3,206 as at 9.01am. 

This came despite Wall Street stumbling overnight after a choppy session of trading, as investors hunkered down ahead of the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision on Wednesday. Both the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P slipped by 0.1 per cent each, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq sank 0.6 per cent. 

On the Singapore bourse, gainers outnumbered losers 57 to 36, after about 21.4 million shares worth S$54.1 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Singtel lost 0.3 per cent, or one Singapore cent to S$3.25, with 2.8 million shares traded, while Genting Singapore added 0.5 per cent, or 0.5 Singapore cent to 93 cents, with 2.7 million shares traded. 

Financials were in the green in the early morning trade. DBS gained 0.7 per cent, or 17 cents to S$25.54, United Overseas Bank added 0.5 per cent, or 14 cents to S$26.54, and OCBC Bank rose 0.5 per cent, or five cents to S$10.84. 

Other active index stocks included ComfortDelGro which gained 0.4 per cent, or one cent to S$2.39, and CapitaLand Commercial Trust which fell 0.5 per cent, or one cent to S$2.03. 

Elsewhere, Asian equities were mixed, as investors awaited the Federal Reserve's policy decision. 

Japan's Topix rose 0.2 per cent as at 8.06am, South Korea's Kospi dipped 0.2 per cent, and Australian stocks declined 0.4 per cent.