Singapore shares climb at Thursday’s open; STI up 0.3%

SINGAPORE stocks advanced on Thursday (Apr 18) morning, despite losses in the US market and mixed results in regional markets.

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) rose 10.06 points or 0.3 per cent to 3,164.75. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 63 to 43 after 73.8 million securities worth S$64.3 million changed hands. 

Seatrium : S51 0% was the most heavily traded counter by volume. The counter was up S$0.001 or 1.3 per cent at S$0.078, after 37.7 million securities were transacted. 

Other counters that were briskly traded included Genting Singapore : G13 0% which remained unchanged at S$0.91, after four million shares changed hands, and The Place Holdings : E27 0% which rose S$0.002 or 40 per cent to S$0.007, after three million shares were transacted. 

Banking stocks were up in early trade. DBS : D05 0% gained S$0.12 or 0.3 per cent to S$36.09, while OCBC : O39 0% advanced S$0.10 or 0.7 per cent to S$13.67, and UOB : U11 0% inched up S$0.14 or 0.5 per cent to S$29.75. 

Over on Wall Street, main indexes slipped on Wednesday, with chip stocks taking a hit. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 1.2 per cent to 15,683.37. The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.6 per cent to 5,022.21, while The Dow Jones Industrial Average also retreated 0.1 per cent to 37,753.31. 

In Europe, shares eked out a gain on Wednesday, boosted by strong quarterly results from consumer giants like Adidas and LVMH. The pan-European Stoxx 600 inched up 0.1 per cent to close at 498.52.