Singapore stocks open higher on Monday; STI up 0.6%

SINGAPORE shares started the week higher after closing lower on Friday.

The Straits Times Index gained 15.32 points or 0.6 per cent to 2,511.43 as at 9.05am on Monday.

Gainers outnumbered losers 77 to 48, after 70.8 million securities worth S$63.6 million changed hands.

Sembcorp Marine was one of the most traded counters by volume, trading flat at 14.8 Singapore cents, after 8.7 million shares were traded.

Other actively traded counters include Medtecs International, which gained S$0.02 or 1.7 per cent to S$1.20, after 4.6 million shares changed hands, and Synagie, which dipped 0.1 Singapore cent or 0.5 per cent to 19.7 cents, with three million shares traded.

All three local banks, which were among the most heavily traded by value, gained ground in early trade. DBS rose S$0.22 or 1.1 per cent to S$20.59, UOB advanced S$0.09 or 0.5 per cent to S$19.50, and OCBC gained S$0.02 or 0.2 per cent to S$8.60.

US stocks lost ground on Friday following a weak jobs report, and President Donald Trump's shock announcement that he has tested positive for Covid-19. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.5 per cent at 27,682.81, the broad-based S&P 500 slipped 1 per cent to 3,348.44, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 2.2 per cent to 11,075.02.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index opened 1.1 per cent or 243.46 points higher at 23,273.36 on Monday, while the broader Topix index advanced 1.2 per cent or 19.10 points to 1,628.32.