Singapore stocks rise at Thursday's open; STI up 0.6%

SINGAPORE shares rose in early trade on Thursday extending Wall Street gains.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.6 per cent or 18.58 points to 3,102.46 as at 9.01am.

Gainers beat losers 101 to 27, after 76.1 million securities worth S$98.3 million changed hands.

Hatten Land was the most actively traded counter by volume on Thursday morning, with 39.3 million shares changing hands as at 9.01am. Its share price rose 6.2 per cent or 0.4 Singapore cent to 6.9 cents. The property developer on Thursday announced that its subsidiary Hatten Technology has signed an agreement with EnjinStarter to develop a token system and non-fungible tokens in Melaka.

Among index counters, CapitaLand Investment was the top gainer on Thursday morning, rising 2.1 per cent or S$0.07 to S$3.46 as at 9.01am.

Moya Asia was also among the top five actively traded counters in terms of volume. Its share price rose by 0.3 Singapore cent to 6.8 cent as at 9.01am.

The trio of local banks were all higher in early trade. DBS was up 0.2 per cent or S$0.06 to S$30.35, UOB rose 0.2 per cent or S$0.05 to S$26.11, while OCBC inched up 0.5 per cent or S$0.06 to S$11.60 as at 9.01am.

In the US, stocks ended higher on Wednesday as investors grew more optimistic that congressional Democrats and Republicans could reach a deal to avert a government debt default.

The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 34,416.99 points, up 0.3 per cent, while the broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.4 per cent to 4,363.55. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.5 per cent to 14,501.91.

In Europe, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell by 1 per cent, owing to soaring oil and gas prices which has intensified concerns that inflation will dent economic growth.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Thursday, following the upward trend on Wall Street.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.6 per cent or 153.81 points at 27,682.68 in early trade, while the broader Topix index advanced 0.3 per cent or 5.77 points to 1,947.68.