Singapore shares rise at Monday's open; STI up 0.4%

SINGAPORE stocks opened higher on Monday, tracking rallies in the US and Europe after US officials moved forward with plans to gradually reopen the economy.

Singapore's Straits Times Index rose 0.4 per cent or 11.06 points to 2,625.66 as at 9.04am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 103 to 46, after 45.7 million securities worth S$84.9 million changed hands.

One of the most active counter by volume was Lippo Malls Indonesia Retail Trust, which rose 7.1 per cent, or 1.1 Singapore cents to 16.6 cents with 3.6 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded securities included Singtel which was up 1.5 per cent or S$0.04 to S$2.80 with 2.9 million shares traded, as well as Yangzijiang Shipbuilding which increased 2 per cent or S$0.02 to S$1.03 with 2.1 million shares traded.

Banking stocks rose in early morning trade. DBS was trading up 0.1 per cent or S$0.02 at S$19.30 on a cum dividend basis. UOB was up 0.4 per cent or S$0.08 to S$20.10 on a cum dividend basis, while OCBC rose 0.3 per cent, or S$0.03 to S$8.89 on a cum dividend basis.

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Other active index counters included CapitaLand Mall Trust which advanced 0.5 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.86 and the Singapore Exchange which moved up 1 per cent or S$0.10 to S$9.93.

In the US, stocks finished sharply higher on Friday as US officials moved forward with plans to gradually reopen the economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 3 per cent, ending at 24,242.49. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 gained 2.7 per cent to 2,874.56, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.4 per cent to 8,650.14.

European shares closed stronger on Friday, on US plans to reopen the economy following similar steps announced in Europe. Investors also drew comfort from reports of a potential drug to treat Covid-19 made by US drugmaker Gilead Sciences. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 2.6 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Monday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 1.2 per cent at 19,656.13 in early trade, while the Topix index was down 0.6 per cent to 1,434.16.