Singapore stocks open higher on Wednesday; STI up 0.3%

SINGAPORE shares opened stronger on Wednesday (Dec 1), in contrast to key global markets which fell overnight.

The Straits Times Index (STI) gained 0.3 per cent or 9.28 points to 3,050.57 as at 9.04 am.

Losers outnumbered gainers 72 to 61, after 100 million securities worth S$134.7 million changed hands.

Golden Agri-Resources E5H was the top gainer by volume in early trade, falling S$0.01 or 3.9 per cent to S$0.25, after 15.1 million shares were traded.

Genting Singapore G13 was also actively traded, slipping S$0.01 or 1.3 per cent to S$0.76 with some 4.3 million shares changing hands. Medtecs International 546 was up 3.4 per cent or S$0.02 to S$0.45, with 2.2 million shares traded.

Banking stocks managed to recoup some losses. DBS D05 was up 0.7 per cent or S$0.20 to S$30.07, UOB U11 advanced 0.9 per cent or S$0.23 to S$25.70, while OCBC O39 climbed 0.5 per cent or S$0.05 to S$11.03 as at 9.03 am.

Other active index counters include Singtel Z74, which gained 0.9 per cent or S$0.02 to S$2.38, and Singapore Airlines C6L , which lost 1.2 per cent or S$0.06 to S$4.81.

Markets fell after Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell signalled the central bank could hike rates sooner than expected. Meanwhile, vaccine maker Moderna's chief executive said that existing Covid-19 vaccines are unlikely to be as effective against the Omicron variant compared to the Delta strain.

US stocks tumbled on Tuesday (Nov 30). The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 1.9 per cent lower at 34,483.72, the broad-based S&P 500 fell 1.9 per cent to 4,567.00, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite was off 1.6 per cent at 15,537.69.

In Europe, the pan-European Stoxx 600 closed down 0.9 per cent, after having fallen as much as 1.6 per cent during the session.

Elsewhere in the region, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Wednesday. The Nikkei 225 index climbed 0.5 per cent or 145.00 points to 27,966.76 in early trade, while the broader Topix index gained 0.3 per cent or 5.84 points to 1,934.19.