SINGAPORE shares opened higher on Wednesday (Aug 14), after US and Europe indices rallied overnight.
The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.7 per cent or 21.58 points to 3,280.15 as at 9.01 am. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 80 to 38, after 42.5 million securities worth S$56.1 million changed hands.
Soilbuild Construction Group was the most actively traded counter by volume, gaining 11.5 per cent or S$0.009 to S$0.087 with 10.1 million shares transacted.
Other heavily traded securities included Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, which fell 2.9 per cent or S$0.08 to S$2.65 with three million shares changing hands, as well as index counter Genting Singapore, which advanced 1.9 per cent or S$0.015 to S$0.815 with 1.9 million shares traded.
The three local banks traded higher at Wednesday’s open. As at 9.01 am, DBS was up 1.1 per cent or S$0.38 to S$34.50, UOB increased 0.8 per cent or S$0.24 to S$29.60, and OCBC also rose 0.8 per cent or S$0.11 to S$13.94.
In the US, stocks closed higher on Tuesday as traders responded positively to cooler-than-expected producer inflation data, bolstering expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index closed 2.4 per cent higher at 17,187.61. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 1 per cent higher at 39,765.64, and the broad-based S&P 500 rose 1.7 per cent to 5,434.43.
Over in Europe, the benchmark stock index closed at a near two-week high on Tuesday, as growing hopes of an interest rate cut from the Fed in September offset a drag from weak earnings from the likes of Swiss medtech company Tecan. The continent-wide Stoxx 600 index closed 0.5 per cent higher at 501.66.
