Singapore stocks rise at open, tracking Wall Street advance; STI up 0.6%

SINGAPORE shares opened higher on Wednesday following overnight gains on Wall Street, as the Dow hit 30,000 points for the first time.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.6 per cent or 18.58 points to 2,910.21 as at 9.03am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 161 to 32, or about five securities up for every one down, after 338.7 million securities worth S$155.4 million changed hands.

One of the most active counters by volume was Sembcorp Marine, which gained 4.2 per cent or 0.7 Singapore cent to 17.5 cents with 33.2 million shares traded.

Other heavily traded securities include Broadway Industrial, which advanced 1.2 per cent or 0.2 Singapore cent to 16.7 cents, with 8.1 million shares changing hands, and Rex International, which put on 3.9 per cent or 0.6 Singapore cent to 16.1 cents, with 5.6 million shares traded.

Banking stocks rose in early trade. DBS was up 1.1 per cent or S$0.27 at S$25.87, UOB gained 1 per cent or S$0.24 to S$23.84, while OCBC advanced 0.2 per cent or S$0.02 to S$10.30.

Other active index counters include Singtel, which rose 0.8 per cent or S$0.02 to S$2.53, and Singapore Airlines (SIA), which jumped 4.8 per cent or S$0.21 to S$4.62.

SIA on Tuesday said it priced S$500 million worth of 3.5 per cent notes due 2030 under its S$10 billion multi-currency medium-term note programme, which it has upsized from S$5 billion previously.

In the US, the Dow surged as receding political uncertainty and hopes for coronavirus vaccines offset worries over rising Covid-19 cases. After crossing the threshold in midday trading, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1.5 per cent higher at 30,046.24 on Tuesday.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.6 per cent to 3,635.41, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 1.3 per cent to 12,036.79.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Wednesday, tracking rallies on Wall Street. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 1.2 per cent at 26,485.30 in early trade, while the broader Topix index put on 1.1 per cent to 1,781.35.