Singapore stocks rise at Friday's open; STI edges up 0.1%

SINGAPORE stocks rose in early trade on Friday (Oct 22), tracking overnight gains in the S&P 500.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.1 per cent or 3.86 points to 3,192.36 as at 9.01 am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 75 to 45 after 80.6 million securities worth S$31.2 million changed hands.

Shares of building services company King Wan were among the most actively traded securities on Friday morning, with 19.9 million shares changing hands as at 9.01 am. The counter rose 1.8 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.058.

Rafflex Education was the top gainer on Friday morning, rising 13.1 per cent or S$0.008 to S$0.069 as at 9.01 am.

Shares of ThaiBev were also among the top 5 actively traded counters in terms of volume. Its shares were up 2.1 per cent or S$0.015 to S$0.72 as at 9.01 am.

The trio of local banks saw mixed trading on Friday morning. DBS was up 0.1 per cent or S$0.02 to S$31.24, UOB fell 0.3 per cent or S$0.07 at S$26.73, while OCBC rose 0.4 per cent or S$0.05 to S$11.95 as at 9.01 am.

Singapore Airlines was trading higher after news broke on an upcoming travel bubble between Singapore and Australia. Its shares rose 0.6 per cent or S$0.03 to S$5.27.

In the US, the S&P 500 finished at a record on Thursday following another round of mostly solid earnings from Tesla and others, even as weak IBM results weighed on the Dow.

The broad-based S&P 500 climbed 0.3 per cent to 4,549.78, its first record close since early September as Tesla, American Airlines and Union Pacific all climbed following earnings. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.6 per cent to 15,215.70, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 35,603.08.

European stocks steadied at 6-week highs on Thursday (Oct 21), as buying of defensives and growth stocks helped offset losses in miners and disappointing earnings forecasts, including from software major SAP. After declining as much as 0.6 per cent, the Europe-wide Stoxx 600 index ended down 0.1 per cent at 469.71.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Friday, shrugging off US rallies that were boosted by solid earnings.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.4 per cent or 104.08 points at 28,604.50 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.4 per cent or 8.66 points to 1,992.15.