SINGAPORE stocks inched up at the opening bell on Friday (Apr 19), despite overnight losses on Wall Street amid analyst expectations of reduced Federal Reserve action. 

As at 9.01 am, the Straits Times Index (STI) rose 4.64 points or 0.2 per cent to 3,192.3. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 54 to 44 after 39.7 million securities worth S$69.8 million changed hands. 

Thai Beverage : Y92 0% was the most heavily traded counter by volume. It remained unchanged at S$0.48, with 4.8 million securities transacted. 

Other counters that were briskly transacted included Seatrium, : S51 0% which also traded flat at S$0.076 after 4.3 million shares changed hands; Genting Singapore : G13 0% climbed 1.1 per cent or S$0.01 to S$0.94 after 2.1 million shares were traded. 

Banking stocks were mixed in early trade. DBS : D05 0% gained S$0.16 or 0.4 per cent to S$36.61, OCBC : O39 0% advanced S$0.02 or 0.2 per cent to S$13.73, while UOB : U11 0% slipped S$0.05 or 0.2 per cent to S$30.10.

On Wall Street, stocks largely finished lower on Thursday after another bumpy session. This was amid climbing US Treasury bond yields, which mirrored fading hopes of a switch in the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.5 per cent to 15,601.5, and the broad-based S&P 500 declined 0.2 per cent to 5,011.12. The Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a gain of 0.1 per cent to 37,775.38. 

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In Europe, shares were propelled on Thursday by strong earnings results from industrials. The pan-European Stoxx 600 advanced 0.2 per cent to close at 499.7.