Singapore shares rise at Friday's open tracking global rally; STI up 0.3%

SINGAPORE stocks were pulled into positive territory on Friday as global markets rallied amid an improvement in sentiment.

Singapore's Straits Times Index increased 0.3 per cent or 10.41 points to 3,086.85 as at 9.03am. Gainers outnumbered losers 91 to 47, or about two securities up for every one down, after 77.3 million securities worth S$80.1 million changed hands.

One of the most active counters by volume was Sembcorp Marine, which held steady at 8.1 Singapore cents with 6.5 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded securities included Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, which rose 1.4 per cent or S$0.02 to S$1.43, with 5.4 million shares traded, as well as Rex International, which was up 4.1 per cent or 0.8 Singapore cent to 20.5 cents, with 4.9 million shares traded.

CapitaLand Investment, which was also actively traded, was up 2.7 per cent or S$0.09 to S$3.49, with 4.8 million shares changing hands.

Meanwhile, banking stocks advanced in early morning trade. DBS was trading 0.5 per cent or S$0.16 higher at S$29.71, UOB was up 0.4 per cent or S$0.10 to S$25.60, while OCBC gained 0.7 per cent or S$0.08 to S$11.53.

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Other active index counters included Singtel, which was flat at S$2.48, as well as Venture Corporation, which inched up 0.1 per cent or S$0.02 to S$18.12.

Stocks in the US rallied for the second session in a row on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.5 per cent higher at 34,764.82. The broad-based S&P 500 rose 1.2 per cent to 4,448.98, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index increased 1 per cent to 15,052.24.

Similarly, European stocks rallied for a third day on Thursday. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.9 per cent, with European banks leading gains.

Meanwhile, UK blue-chip FTSE 100 lagged regional indices, declining 0.1 per cent after the Bank of England said the case for higher interest rates "appeared to have strengthened" after it nudged up inflation forecasts for the year.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Friday following a public holiday on Thursday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 1.7 per cent at 30,131.31 while the broader Topix index advanced 1.6 per cent to 2,075.63.