SINGAPORE stocks started Thursday (May 16) on a strong note tracking overnight gains in global markets, after US core inflation hit its slowest in three years and retail sales turned flat, fuelling rate-cuts hopes.
Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.5 per cent or 17.18 points to 3,306.6 as at 9.02 am. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 102 to 39, after 75.2 million securities worth S$88.1 million changed hands.
Heavily traded securities included Thai Beverage : Y92 0%, which lost 1 per cent or S$0.005 at S$0.495 with 8.5 million shares traded, as well as Genting Singapore : G13 0%, which lost 1.6 per cent, or S$0.015, to S$0.91 with 8.1 million shares changing hands. Mermaid Maritime : DU4 0% was also briskly traded, and was down 7.2 per cent or S$0.011 to S$0.141 with 3.5 million shares transacted.
Banking stocks rose in early morning trade. DBS : D05 0%was trading up 0.3 per cent or S$0.12 at S$35.43. UOB : U11 0%was up 0.3 per cent or S$0.10 to S$30.05, and OCBC : O39 0% rose 0.3 per cent or S$0.04 to S$14.39.
US indices rocketed to all-time highs on Wednesday after monthly US consumer prices showed moderating inflation, boosting rate-cuts hopes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.9 per cent to 39,908, putting it back within striking distance of a first-ever close above 40,000 points. The broad-based S&P 500 jumped 1.2 per cent to 5,308.15, and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 1.4 per cent to 16,742.39, notching a second straight record.
Over in Europe, the main share index also registered a record high amid robust earnings and a softer-than-expected US inflation print. The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.6 per cent at 524.71, with Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 index also closing at all-time highs.
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