Singapore stocks: STI resumes Wednesday afternoon at 3,136.32, up 0.65% on day

SINGAPORE stocks built on their morning gains as trading resumed on Wednesday afternoon, with the Straits Times Index advancing 0.65 per cent or 20.15 points on the day to 3,136.32 as at 1.04pm.

Gainers outnumbered losers 173 to 125, after 572.8 million securities worth S$456.9 million changed hands.

Among the most active securities, Rex International advanced S$0.01 or 12.7 per cent to S$0.089 with 94 million shares traded on news it had made an oil and gas discovery from the drilling of exploration and appraisal wells in the Norwegian Sea.

Other actives included Spackman Entertainment, which was up S$0.002 or 14.3 per cent to S$0.016 and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, whose shares rose S$0.005 or 0.5 per cent to S$0.975.

Active index stocks included Singtel, which traded down S$0.01 or 0.3 per cent to S$3.16, and Venture Manufacturing, up S$0.30 or 1.9 per cent to S$15.87.

The three local banks were all in the green, with DBS up S$0.07 or 0.3 per cent to S$25.01, UOB increasing S$0.20 or 0.8 per cent to S$26.15, and OCBC gaining S$0.12 or 1.1 per cent to S$10.90.

Elsewhere in Asia, shares were boosted by a solid start to the US earnings season and reports that Britain still has a chance of avoiding a messy exit from the European Union.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index notched up 0.9 per cent or 55.6 points to 6,707.6 by 9.23am SGT, poised for a fifth day of gains, after having added 1.6 per cent in the last four sessions combined.

In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 1.26 per cent or 280.06 points to 22,487.27 as at 12.43pm SGT, helped by a cheap yen against the dollar.

Hong Kong stocks were almost flat, with the Hang Seng Index edging up 0.01 per cent or 2.02 points to 26,505.95 while the Shanghai SE Composite Index was down 0.28 per cent or 8.30 points to 2,982.74.