Singapore stocks edge up at Monday's open; STI up 0.3%

SINGAPORE shares started Monday on a stronger note, with the key Straits Times Index (STI) gaining 7.43 points or 0.3 per cent to 2,956.47 as at 9.03am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 110 to 61, after 177.9 million shares worth S$153 million changed hands.

Among the index securities, the most heavily traded by volume was Yangzijiang Shipbuilding which added S$0.02 or 1.9 per cent to S$1.09, with 18.3 million shares traded.

The trio of banking stocks were up in early trade. DBS gained S$0.13 or 0.5 per cent to S$26.77, UOB rose S$0.18 or 0.7 per cent to S$24.86, while OCBC increased S$0.01 or 0.1 per cent to S$11.

Other active stocks included Venture Corp which was up S$0.21 or 1.1 per cent to S$19.41. This comes even as the electronics manufacturing services firm on Friday posted an 8.1 per cent drop in H2 net profit to S$166.8 million for the six months ended Dec 31, 2020.

Top Glove fell S$0.06 or 3.4 per cent to S$1.73. The world's biggest rubber glove maker is seeking to raise as much as RM7.77 billion (S$2.55 billion) from a listing in Hong Kong, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

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Meanwhile, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) fell S$0.11 or 7.9 per cent to S$1.29. This comes after SPH on Saturday said its indirect stake in South Korean e-commerce company Coupang is estimated at 0.1 per cent. SPH, which publishes The Business Times (BT), said it had invested US$3.9 million in Coupang back in 2014 via a special purpose vehicle.

The announcement follows a report by BT on Thursday highlighting potential returns for Coupang's existing investors if a proposed initial public offering takes place.

Over on Wall Street, US equities finished a volatile week mostly lower on Friday, as markets weighed inflation worries against expected progress on a US spending package and coronavirus vaccines.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.5 per cent, or around 470 points, to finish the week at 30,932.37. The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.5 per cent to close at 3,811.15, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.6 per cent to 13,192.34.

European stocks also closed lower on Friday, ending three weeks of gains as investors booked profits in tech and commodity-linked shares. The benchmark European stock index fell 1.6 per cent and shed 2.4 per cent for the week.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Monday, following a mixed close on Wall Street on Friday after US bond yields retreated.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 1.5 per cent or 442.80 points at 29,408.81 in early trade, while the broader Topix index gained 1.3 per cent or 23.49 points to 1,887.98.