Singapore stocks open flat on Monday

SINGAPORE shares struggled to advance at the start of the week, with the key Straits Times Index inching up 0.02 point to 2,618.50 as at 9.02am on Monday. This comes after Singapore stocks similarly drifted through most of Friday, after a dull, directionless session. 

On the Singapore bourse, gainers outnumbered losers 76 to 45, after about 44.6 million securities worth S$36.3 million changed hands. 

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Medtecs International gained 3.5 Singapore cents or 5.6 per cent to 66 cents, with 6.7 million shares traded, while Singapore-eDevelopment added 0.4 Singapore cent or 4.4 per cent to 9.5 cents, with 3.6 million shares changing hands.  

Banking stocks were mixed in early trade. DBS gained S$0.01 or 0.05 per cent to S$21.39, United Overseas Bank slipped S$0.06 or 0.3 per cent to S$20.50, while OCBC Bank was flat at S$9.17. 

Other active stocks include Top Glove, which rose S$0.44 or 5.9 per cent to S$7.96, and Biolidics, which advanced two Singapore cents or 4.8 per cent to 43.5 cents.

Meanwhile, Sembcorp Industries (SCI) shed S$0.02 or 1.1 per cent to S$1.76. This comes after SCI on Friday posted a net loss of S$131 million for the first half this year against a profit of S$191 million a year earlier. 

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Over on Wall Street, US equities ended a volatile week mostly higher on Friday following mixed economic data and as Netflix shares dropped. The Dow dipped 0.2 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.3 per cent.

European shares were little changed on Friday as investors awaited the outcome of a European Union summit where leaders were expected to hammer out details of a 750-billion-euro (S$1.19 trillion) recovery fund.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Monday ahead of corporate earnings this week. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.3 per cent, while the broader Topix gained 0.2 per cent.