Singapore stocks open higher on Wednesday; STI up 0.4%

SINGAPORE shares began trading on Wednesday morning in positive territory following modest declines overnight on Wall Street.

The Straits Times Index (STI) advanced 11.04 points or 0.4 per cent to 2,956.56 as at 9.04am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 118 to 50, after 213 million securities worth S$115.5 million changed hands.

Catalist-listed China Star Food was the most actively traded counter on Wednesday morning, rising 1.1 Singapore cents or 22 per cent to 6.1 cents, after some 61.1 million shares changed hands.

Among index stocks, Singtel was the most active, shedding S$0.03 or 1.2 per cent to S$2.40, with 8.9 million shares traded.

Zhongxin Fruit and Juice lost 0.8 Singapore cent or 12.5 per cent to trade at 5.6 cents. This comes after the fruit juice manufacturer announced it expects to report a net loss for the first half of FY2020 due to impairment of property, plant and equipment recognised by its subsidiaries relating to idle plant and machinery.

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The trio of local lenders were up in early trade. DBS rose S$0.06 or 0.2 per cent to S$25.76, UOB gained S$0.20 or 0.9 per cent to S$23.53, while OCBC advanced S$0.14 or 1.4 per cent to S$10.53 as at 9.04am.

Over in the US, indices slipped on Tuesday as investors digested a batch of corporate earnings. Moves were also limited by an expected policy announcement from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.96 points or 0.1 per cent to 30,937.04, the broad-based S&P 500 lost 5.74 points or 0.2 per cent to 3,849.62, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite dropped 9.93 points or 0.1 per cent to 13,626.07.

Meanwhile, European stocks ended in positive territory, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index closing 0.6 per cent higher with a rally in automakers, industrial companies and SAP helping the German DAX outperform.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Wednesday as bargain-hunters moved in ahead of Japan's corporate earnings season. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.4 per cent or 124.23 points at 28,670.41 in early trade, while the broader Topix index advanced 0.5 per cent or 8.41 points to 1,856.41.