SINGAPORE shares opened higher on Friday, with the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) gaining 0.4 per cent or 10.26 points to 2,538.18 as at 9.08am. Gainers outnumbered losers 111 to 37, after 71.6 million securities worth S$80.3 million changed hands.

Among the most active counters by volume was Singapore Telecommunications, which dipped 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.31, with 3.5 million shares changing hands as at 9.09am.

Genting Singapore gained 0.7 per cent or 0.5 Singapore cent to 69.5 cents, with 2.9 million shares traded, while Wilmar International advanced 1.8 per cent or S$0.08 to S$4.44. 

The trio of local banks put in a mixed showing in early trade. DBS rose 1.2 per cent or S$0.24 to S$20.96, UOB gained 1.2 per cent or S$0.24 to S$20.12, while OCBC Bank dropped 0.9 per cent or S$0.08 to S$8.75.

Other active index counters include the Singapore Exchange, which gained 1.3 per cent or S$0.11 to S$8.68, and Keppel Corporation, which edged up 0.4 per cent or S$0.02 to S$4.63.

Singapore Airlines advanced 0.8 per cent or S$0.03 to S$3.66. The airline has used S$4.4 billion - or half - of the S$8.8 billion it raised during the rights issue in June, it said in a bourse filing on Thursday.

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In the US, the Nasdaq ended at a record high on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and Dow also rising, as gains in heavyweight tech stocks outweighed downbeat data that affirmed the US Federal Reserve's view of a "difficult" road to economic recovery.

Miners and banks led declines in European stocks on Thursday, hit by a wave of selling across global markets after the US Fed signalled a long path of recovery for the world's largest economy.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Friday as investors took heart from the rally in US equities.