Singapore stocks: STI resumes Thursday afternoon at 3,059.69, up 0.11% on day

SINGAPORE stocks edged up as trading resumed on Thursday afternoon, with the Straits Times Index gaining 0.11 per cent or 3.22 points to 3,059.69 as at 1.01pm.

Gainers and losers were evenly matched, with 157 up to 160 securities down after 563.5 million securities worth S$410.4 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Singtel moved down 1.0 per cent or S$0.03 to S$3.12 with 16.0 million shares traded. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings rose 3.4 per cent or S$0.03 to S$0.915 with 13.6 million shares traded. Rex International Holding advanced 1.3 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.076 with 11.0 million shares traded.

Active index stocks included Singapore Exchange, down 0.2 per cent or S$0.02 to S$8.16 cum dividend; CapitaLand, up 0.9 per cent or S$0.03 to S$3.42.

Banking stocks DBS Group Holdings was down 0.04 per cent or S$0.01 to S$24.10; OCBC Bank, down 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$10.50; and United Overseas Bank, up 0.2 per cent or S$0.05 to S$24.46.

In the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index weakened by 0.28 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei index was down 0.23 per cent.

In China, stocks weakened amid global recession worries mounting from US-China trade tensions, along with the possibility of a no-deal Brexit. The CSI300 index fell 0.4 per cent to 3,789.12 at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.1 per cent to 2,890.29.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.4 per cent to 25,524.26, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index dropped 0.6 per cent to 9,918.26.

Elsewhere in the region, Australian shares were muted on Thursday, as investors hold back on making large strides. As at 0233 GMT, the S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.1 per cent or 6.6 points to 6,494. New Zealand's benchmark index meanwhile, inched down 0.1 per cent or 10.94 points to 10,618.51.