Singapore stocks open higher after positive non-oil export figures on Friday; STI up 0.1%

SINGAPORE stocks rose in early trade on Friday after the Republic's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) extended gains in March for the fourth straight month.

On Friday morning, Enterprise Singapore announced that the country's NODX surged by 12.1 per cent year on year, which is a pickup from the growth of 4.2 per cent in the month before. The expansion handily beat the median rise of 2.6 per cent estimated by private-sector analysts in a Bloomberg poll.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.1 per cent or 3.30 points to 3,188.07 as at 9.02am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 98 to 23 after 67.4 million securities worth S$53.5 million changed hands.

mm2 Asia shares were the most actively traded securities, with 23.1 million shares worth S$1.2 million changing hands as at 9.01am. The counter fell 5.3 per cent or 0.3 Singapore cent to 5.4 cents.

Thai Beverage Public Co also saw heavy trading, with 6.6 million shares worth S$4.9 million changing hands. The counter lost 1.3 per cent or S$0.01 to S$0.74.

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The trio of local banks mostly advanced. DBS was flat at S$28.95, UOB gained 0.2 per cent or S$0.06 to S$26.15, while OCBC edged up 0.3 per cent or S$0.03 to S$11.88 as at 9.01am.

In the US, stocks hit fresh records supported by buoyant economic data and a strong start to the earnings season. The Dow jumped 0.9 per cent to finish above 34,000 for the first time, while the S&P 500 also closed at a fresh record.

European shares closed at a record high on Thursday with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index rising 0.5 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Friday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.5 per cent or 138.10 points at 29,780.79, while the broader Topix index advanced 0.2 per cent or 3.78 points to 1,962.91.