SINGAPORE shares opened higher Thursday (Nov 28), while stocks in Asia traded in a narrow range as traders took to the sidelines ahead of the US Thanksgiving holiday.
As at 9.03 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) was up 0.4 per cent or 14.24 points at 3,722.33. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 65 to 31 after 32.9 million securities worth S$51.2 million changed hands.
Air-conditioning services supplier Progen Holdings was the most actively traded stock with 5.5 million transacted. The counter jumped 6.7 per cent or S$0.002 to S$0.032.
ThaiBev was also among the stocks that were heavily traded, with almost four million changing hands. It was up S$0.005 or 0.9 per cent at S$0.555.
All three banking stocks were in the green at open, after the inflation data preferred by the US Federal Reserve rose. This backed the central bank’s cautious approach to cutting interest rates. DBS gained S$0.14 or 0.3 per cent to S$41.99, while OCBC was up S$0.06 or 0.4 per cent at S$16.14. UOB advanced S$0.23 or 0.6 per cent to S$36.56.
Wall Street declined on Wednesday, retreating from records after inflation data showed an uptick in consumer prices. Following three straight closing peaks for the Dow and Tuesday’s record for the S&P 500, both dropped along with the Nasdaq in the final full trading session of the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3 per cent to 44,722.06. The broad-based S&P 500 was down 0.4 per cent at 5,998.74, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.6 per cent to 19,060.48.
In Europe, equities fell as concerns mounted around the French government’s ability to push through its budget plan. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was down 0.2 per cent at 504.96 points by the close while the French blue chips index CAC 40 lost 0.7 per cent.
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