Singapore stocks: STI resumes Thursday afternoon at 3,147.11, up 0.53% on day

Vivienne Tay

Published Thu, Sep 5, 2019 · 05:28 AM

SINGAPORE stocks opened higher as trading resumed on Thursday afternoon, with the Straits Times Index advancing 0.53 per cent or 16.54 points to 3,147.11 as at 1.02pm, tracking rallies in Asian markets.

On the Singapore Exchange, gainers outnumbered losers 183 to 136, or about four securities up for every three down, after 410.9 million securities worth S$479.2 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings gained 4.3 per cent or S$0.04 to S$0.98 with 37.3 million shares traded. Rex International Holding advanced 2.5 per cent or S$0.002 to S$0.083 with 25.3 million shares traded. AusGroup meanwhile, headed up 4.8 per cent or S$0.001 to S$0.022 with 21.4 million shares traded.

Active index stocks included Singtel, up 0.6 per cent or S$0.02 to S$3.22; and the Singapore Exchange, up 1.6 per cent or S$0.13 to S$8.48 on a cum-dividend basis.

Financials continued to trade positively from the morning session, with DBS Group Holdings up 0.7 per cent or S$0.16 to S$24.70; United Overseas Bank up 1.2 per cent or S$0.31 to S$25.41; and OCBC Bank up 1.1 per cent or S$0.12 to S$10.83.

In China, stocks were on a rally, backed by hopes that Beijing will cut a key ratio to shore up the economy, along with sentiment from another round of US-China trade talks announced for October. The CSI300 index was up 1.6 per cent to 3,948.99 at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.6 per cent to 3,003.44.

Hong Kong share gains however were muted, with the Hang Seng index up 0.4 per cent to 26,624.25, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index gained 1.4 per cent to 10,431.31.

Elsewhere in the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was up 1 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei index rose 2.23 per cent. Australia shares, boosted by energy stocks, saw the S&P/ASX 200 index rising 1 per cent to 6,616.2 by 0158 GMT. New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index was also up, by 0.7 per cent to 11,089.16.