SINGAPORE shares opened slightly higher on Monday, tracking gains on Wall Street. The Straits Times Index (STI) gained 0.1 per cent or 2.17 points to 3,160.14 as at 9am. Gainers outnumbered losers 102 to 40, with 71 million securities worth S$56.6 million changing hands.

RH PetroGas was the most actively traded counter by volume, with 6.5 million shares worth S$890,000 traded as at 9.01am. Its shares were up 16.1 per cent or two Singapore cents at 14.4 cent.

Sembcorp Marine also saw brisk trading, with 4.2 million shares worth S$850,000 changing hands within the first minute of market open. Its shares gained 2.5 per cent or 0.5 Singapore cent to 20.5 cents.

Index stock CapitaLand was also actively traded, with 1.2 million shares worth S$4.5 million traded as at 9.01am. The counter was up 0.3 per cent or S$0.01 at S$3.75.

The property player announced that it has set up an innovation fund with a S$50 million commitment over five years as part of its sustainability efforts, to support the test-bedding of sustainability and other high-tech innovations in the built-environment space. The company will also redeploy interest rate savings from its sustainability-linked loans towards its sustainability initiatives.

The trio of local banks were mixed in early trade. DBS gained 0.1 per cent or S$0.03 to S$29.76 in early trading, UOB lost 0.3 per cent or S$0.07 to S$26.07 and OCBC dropped 0.7 per cent or S$0.09 to S$12.24 as at 9.01am.

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Over on Wall Street, the S&P 500 ended Friday at a new record after a choppy session, as investors weighed consumer confidence and inflation data, which showed the inflation rate at its highest level in 13 years.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up less than 0.1 per cent to https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/stocks/tokyo-stocks-open-higher-on-monday-3734,479.60, the broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.2 per cent to hit a second straight record at 4,247.44, and the tech-rich Nasdaq jumped 0.4 per cent to end the day at 14,069.42.

European stocks also hit a record high on Friday, buoyed by hopes that major central banks will remain accommodative despite signs of rising inflation, while UK shares were boosted by a rally in miners. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 0.7 per cent in its sixth straight session of gains and ended the week 1.1 per cent higher, its best weekly performance since early May.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Monday, tracking gains on Wall Street, with investors focusing on a Federal Reserve meeting this week. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.7 per cent or 207.59 points to 29,156.32 in early trade, while the broader Topix index added 0.6 per cent or 12.19 points to 1,966.21.