Singapore shares rise slightly at Thursday's open; STI up 0.09% to 3,145.33

SINGAPORE stocks opened marginally stronger on Thursday when it started trading following Wednesday's public holiday. The rise also comes after Wall Street's gain on Wednesday amid solid data on the US services sector.

On the Singapore bourse, the Straits Times Index inched up 0.09 per cent or 2.96 points to 3,145.33 as at 9.01am on Thursday.

Gainers outnumbered losers 55 to 30, after 58.39 million securities worth S$120.72 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings gained two Singapore cents or 1.46 per cent to S$1.39 with 10.95 million shares traded as at 9.02am, while Genting Singapore rose one Singapore cent or 1.16 per cent to S$0.87 with 7.32 million shares changing hands.

Active index stocks included City Developments Limited, down seven Singapore cents or 0.84 per cent to S$8.23; Sembcorp Industries, losing four cents or 1.67 per cent to S$2.35; and CapitaLand, also down one cent or 0.31 per cent to S$3.21 as at 9.02am.

For banking stocks, DBS was unchanged at S$24.27, while UOB rose six Singapore cents or 0.25 per cent to S$24.06; and OCBC was up two cents or 0.19 per cent to S$10.65.

Challenger Technologies opened flat at 54.5 Singapore cents on Thursday. The mainboard-listed electronics retailer announced on Tuesday night that the Singapore Exchange (SGX) has no objection to its proposed voluntary delisting.

Another firm set to delist from the SGX is Lafe Corp, which also opened flat at S$0.23 on Thursday. The mainboard-listed developer said on Wednesday evening that it received a notification of delisting from SGX-ST after having been on the bourse's financial watch-list since June 3, 2016.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened slightly lower on Thursday, dragged down by investor jitters over US-Mexico trade talks. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.07 per cent or 14.74 points to 20,761.36 in early trade while the broader Topix index was down 0.29 per cent or 4.46 points at 1,525.62.

In the US, Wall Street stocks rose for a second straight session on Wednesday, with solid data on the US services sector offsetting a weak private sector hiring report. Analysts also cited continued positive momentum following more dovish commentary from Federal Reserve officials, dynamics that let the market shrug off worries about trade tariffs and the weakening global growth outlook.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 25,539.37, up 0.8 per cent on Wednesday. The broad-based S&P 500 also gained 0.8 per cent to 2,826.13, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.6 percent to 7,575.48.