Singapore stocks open higher on Monday; STI up 0.2%

SINGAPORE shares rose at the opening bell on Monday after closing lower last Friday.

The Straits Times Index (STI) gained 4.45 points or 0.2 per cent to 2,428.29 as at 9.10am.

Losers outnumbered gainers 94 to 63, after 89.3 million securities worth S$74.7 million changed hands.

Sembcorp Marine was among the most actively traded counters by volume, slipping 0.2 Singapore cent or 1.7 per cent to 11.8 cents with 5.3 million shares traded.

Mainboard-listed agri-business group Wilmar International was the most traded counter by value, rising S$0.07 or 1.7 per cent to S$4.11 after 2.7 million shares changed hands.

The company on Friday said its net profit rose 20 per cent year on year to US$536.6 million for the third quarter. It also proposed a special dividend for its shareholders to commemorate the market debut of its Chinese unit Yihai Kerry Arawana.

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Separately, Singapore Telecommunications was flat at S$2.03 after 1.4 million shares changed hands. The telco on Monday said its wholly-owned Australian subsidiary Optus Mobile is planning to fork out some A$250 million (S$239.7 million) to acquire the mobile service business of Amaysim Australia, before the latter winds up.

Newly-listed Nanofilm Technologies built on last week's gains, rising S$0.04 or 1.4 per cent to S$2.95 on Monday after 911,600 shares changed hands.

Meanwhile, DBS fell S$0.05 or 0.3 per cent to S$20.30, UOB dipped S$0.02 or 0.1 per cent to S$18.97 while OCBC was unchanged at S$8.42. All three banks will be reporting their third-quarter results this week.

US stocks finished their worst week and month since March on a downcast note on Friday, falling further as investors fretted over rising coronavirus cases and Tuesday's high-stakes presidential election.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.6 per cent to close the week at 26,501.60. The broad-based S&P 500 fell 1.2 per cent to 3,269.96, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 2.5 per cent to 10.911.59.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Monday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.6 per cent or 139.86 points at 23,116.99 in early trade, while the broader Topix index gained 1 per cent or 16.37 points to 1,595.70.