Singapore stocks: STI resumes Friday afternoon up 0.02% on day

SINGAPORE stocks resumed trading on Friday afternoon nearly flat, with the Straits Times Index up 0.02 per cent or 0.49 point on the day to 3,207.91 as at 1.03pm.

Advancers outnumbered decliners 163 to 151, after about 477.0 million securities worth S$370.8 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Rex International gained 2.7 per cent or 0.5 Singapore cent to S$0.191, with 65.3 million shares traded. The oil exploration and production company had on Friday morning said its indirect unit Masirah Oil is proposing to issue US$4.5 million of preference shares priced at US$477.70 apiece to Trace Atlantic Oil to fund its drilling activities and operations in Oman.

Meanwhile, EC World Reit (real estate investment trust) fell 1.3 per cent or one Singapore cent to S$0.755, with 19.3 million shares traded. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding held steady at S$1.08 with 12.8 million shares traded.

Banking stocks faltered slightly by the afternoon trade, DBS dropped 0.2 per cent, or five Singapore cents to S$25.89, UOB was down 0.5 per cent or 12 cents to S$26.48, and OCBC dropped 0.1 per cent or one cent to S$10.94.

Other active securities included Singtel which rose 0.6 per cent or two Singapore cents to S$3.30, and CapitaLand, which rose 0.3 per cent or one Singapore cent to S$3.73.

Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.06 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei index was up 0.03 per cent.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index was up 0.4 per cent. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.2 per cent at the end of the morning session, while the CSI300 index advanced 0.3 per cent.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index 0.3 per cent, while New Zealand's S&P/NZX 50 index hit a record high for the second straight session before trading marginally lower.