Singapore stocks open higher despite Wall Street retreat, Bank of England meeting

SINGAPORE shares opened higher on Thursday morning, despite Wall Street's retreat from the highs the previous day and nervousness about the Bank of England's policy meeting.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) opened up 2.06 points or 0.07 per cent at 2,912.71.

Two minutes into morning trade, some 85.5 million shares worth S$92.5 million changed hands, with gainers outnumbering losers 67 to 59.

Among the most active counters were SingPost, Singtel and Sino Grandness.

One of the key events on Thursday is the Bank of England's policy meeting, where analysts expect on average, a 25 basis point cut in interest rates to 0.25 per cent.

Back home, Singapore's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 2.2 per cent from the year-ago period in the second quarter of 2016 based on advance estimates, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said in the morning.

It is marginally higher than the 2.1 per cent growth in the previous quarter.