Singapore shares climb at Monday’s open; STI up 0.2%

SINGAPORE stocks rose at the opening bell on Monday (Apr 1) morning, mirroring gains in US and European markets. 

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) gained 6.61 points or 0.2 per cent to 3,230.62. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 76 to 39 after 73.2 million securities worth S$41.8 million changed hands. 

Seatrium : S51 0% was the most heavily traded counter by volume. It rose S$0.001 or 1.3 per cent to S$0.08, with 33.4 million securities transacted. 

Other counters that were briskly transacted included Oceanus, : 579 0% which remained unchanged at S$0.008 after 5.5 million shares changed hands, and Zixin, : 42W 0% which shed S$0.001 or 4.6 per cent to S$0.021 after 2.8 million securities were traded. 

Banking stocks were mixed in early trade. DBS : D05 0% declined S$0.08 or 0.2 per cent to S$35.95, and OCBC : O39 0% rose S$0.07 or 0.5 per cent to S$13.56. UOB : U11 0% advanced S$0.13 or 0.4 per cent to S$29.44. 

Over on Wall Street, US stocks closed at record highs on Thursday, adding to first-quarter gains boosted by expectations of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.1 per cent to 39,807.37, while the broad-based S&P 500 inched up 0.1 per cent to 5,254.35. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.1 per cent to 16,379.46. 

European stocks tracked the Wall Street rally on Thursday, with the Stoxx 600 closing 0.2 per cent higher at 512.67. This followed investor bullishness around anticipated interest rate cuts and technology stock optimism.