Singapore stocks rise at Friday's open; STI up 0.7%

SINGAPORE shares opened higher on Friday, tracking gains on Wall Street. The Straits Times Index (STI) gained 0.7 per cent or 21.64 points to 3,186.46 as at 9.01am. Gainers outnumbered losers 107 to 33, with 103.8 million securities worth S$269.6 million changing hands.

BlackGold Natural Resources was the most actively traded counter by volume with 11 million shares worth S$240,000 traded within the first minute of market open. Its shares were at 2.1 Singapore cents, up 23.5 per cent or 0.4 cent from when it last traded on May 21.

This follows the group's announcement on May 28, of the acquisition of the entire issued and paid-up share capital of Tengri Coal and Energy, which will result in a "reverse takeover" of BlackGold upon completion.

Suntec Reit also saw brisk trading, with 5.5 million units worth S$7.9 million changing hands. Its units gained 2.1 per cent or S$0.03 to S$1.45.

Index stock Ascendas Reit was also actively traded, with 5.3 million units worth S$15.4 million traded as at 9.01am. The counter gained 0.3 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.92.

Ascendas Reit is managed by a wholly-owned subsidiary of CapitaLand, which on Thursday announced that it had acquired the remaining 50 per cent stake in DLSP-Ascendas Co, which owns Dalian Ascendas IT Park in China, from a joint venture partner.

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The trio of local banks were higher in early trade. UOB rose the most, up by 1.5 per cent or S$0.38 to S$26.39 in early trading. OCBC jumped 1.4 per cent or S$0.17 to S$12.57, while DBS rose by 0.7 per cent or S$0.22 to S$30.28 as at 9.01am.

Over on Wall Street, stocks closed mostly higher on Thursday after solid US labour data, as Republicans introduced an infrastructure package that somewhat narrowed the spending gulf with the White House's latest proposal.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 0.4 per cent at 34,464.64, the broad-based S&P 500 inched up 0.1 per cent at 4,200.88 and the tech-rich Nasdaq closed essentially flat at 13,736.28.

European stocks ended at a record high on Thursday, boosted by hikes in Airbus's jet output targets even as German shares weakened after a court ruling against a pharmaceutical maker. The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.3 per cent to 446.44 points, a record closing high.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Friday, tracking gains on Wall Street as investors were positive on the dollar's rise. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index jumped 1.6 per cent or 463.94 points to 29,012.95 in early trade, while the broader Topix index added 1.5 per cent, or 27.81 points, to 1,938.83.