Singapore shares open higher on Thursday; STI up 0.6%

SINGAPORE shares began Thursday (Sep 12) trading in positive territory, mirroring overnight gains in global markets. 

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) advanced 0.6 per cent or 22.42 points to 3,553.59. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 82 to 25 after 55.7 million securities worth S$118.8 million changed hands.  

Offshore oil-and-gas contractor Dyna-Mac was the most actively traded counter by volume. It rose 23.2 per cent or S$0.115 to S$0.61, with seven million shares transacted. 

Other actively traded counters included Singtel, which traded flat at S$3.29, as well as offshore and marine specialist Seatrium, which gained 1.9 per cent or S$0.03 to S$1.61.

Banking stocks were trading higher at the open. DBS climbed 1.6 per cent or S$0.59 to S$37.88. OCBC increased 0.9 per cent or S$0.13 to S$15.31. UOB rose 0.6 per cent or S$0.19 to S$32.25. 

Wall Street stocks closed higher on Wednesday as semiconductor companies led gains, with Micron and Intel scoring big gains. Leading major indices, the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 2.2 per cent to 17,395.53. The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 1.1 per cent to 5,554.13, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3 per cent to 40,861.71. 

European shares ended flat as gains in technology shares were offset by losses in real estate shares, as investors turned their focus to the European Central Bank’s rate decision on Thursday. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose slightly by 0.01 per cent to 508.02.