SINGAPORE stocks rose on Wednesday (Mar 13) morning, mirroring overnight gains in US and European markets following the release of Federal Reserve inflation data.
As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) rose 7.53 points or 0.2 per cent to 3,149. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 70 to 44 after 36 million securities worth S$50.2 million changed hands.
Seatrium was the most heavily traded counter by volume. It climbed S$0.001 or 1.1 per cent to S$0.093 after 4.9 million securities were transacted.
Other companies that were briskly transacted included Genting Singapore which remained unchanged at S$0.90, and Thai Beverage which rose S$0.005 or 1 per cent to S$0.51.
The trio of local banks were up in early trade. DBS advanced S$0.25 or 0.8 per cent to S$33.75. OCBC climbed S$0.07 or 0.5 per cent to S$13.16 while UOB inched up S$0.05 or 0.2 per cent to S$28.33.
US equities finished keenly higher at Tuesday’s close as traders were unfazed by a higher-than-anticipated inflation report and plunged back into tech shares.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6 per cent to the 39,005.49 mark. The broad-based S&P 500 climbed 1.1 per cent to 5,175.27, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced more than 1.5 per cent to close at 16,265.64.
European shares tracked the Wall Street rally and closed at a record high on Tuesday, as traders stood pat on bets that the Federal Reserve will begin interest rate cuts in June.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended 1 per cent higher at 506.52.
