Singapore shares edge up at Monday's open; STI up 0.2%

SINGAPORE stocks began trading on Monday morning in slightly positive territory as the market reopens after the Chinese New Year break, with the key Straits Times Index (STI) adding 6.04 points or 0.2 per cent to 2,931.52 as at 9am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 121 to 34, after 103.3 million securities worth S$53 million changed hands.

"The strong finish by Wall Street and a lack of market-moving news over the weekend, should see Asian markets track higher this morning," said Oanda's senior market analyst, Jeffrey Halley.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry on Monday announced that it is maintaining Singapore's gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast at 4 to 6 per cent for 2021. For 2020 as a whole, the Singapore economy contracted by 5.4 per cent, a reversal from the 1.3 per cent growth recorded in 2019.

Singapore is also maintaining its forecast for non-oil domestic export (NODX) growth to slow in 2021, though it has upgraded its forecast for total merchandise trade. NODX remains expected to grow by 0 to 2 per cent year on year in 2021, Enterprise Singapore said in its quarterly review of trade performance on Monday.

On the Singapore bourse, the most heavily traded by volume among the index securities was Thai Beverage, which gained one Singapore cent or 1.3 per cent to 79.5 cents, with 2.3 million shares traded. CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust advanced S$0.03 or 1.4 per cent to S$2.17, with about one million shares changing hands.

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The trio of local lenders were up in early trade. DBS edged up S$0.08 or 0.3 per cent to S$26.15, OCBC rose S$0.09 or 0.9 per cent to S$10.64, while UOB gained S$0.16 or 0.7 per cent to S$24.10.

Other active stocks included Thomson Medical which rallied 0.5 Singapore cent or 6.3 per cent to 8.4 cents.

Meanwhile, Sheng Siong slipped S$0.03 or 1.9 per cent to S$1.56.

Oxley Holdings jumped S$0.01 or 4.4 per cent to S$0.24, after the property developer on Sunday announced that its net profit for the six months ended Dec 31 more than doubled year on year to S$34.1 million. This came on the back of higher revenue and lower finance costs, the mainboard-listed firm said.

Raffles Education Corporation advanced 2.3 Singapore cents or 17.7 per cent to 15.3 cents. This comes after the private education provider last week reported that its half-year net profit jumped to S$35.7 million from S$7.7 million a year ago. For the six months ended Dec 31, the company's bottom line was bolstered in large part by a gain of S$28.1 million from the disposal of property plant and equipment.

Over on Wall Street, US equities ended at records on Friday, concluding a solid week on expectations for more US stimulus and an economic rebound fuelled by coronavirus vaccines.

The S&P 500 gained 0.5 per cent to finish at 3,934.83, up 1.2 per cent for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.1 per cent to 31,458.40, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index won 0.5 per cent to 14,095.47.

European shares reversed earlier losses to close higher on Friday, led by ASML and L'Oreal, although a dip in Volkswagen weighed on Germany's main index. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed up 0.6 per cent at a three-week high for a second straight week of gains.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened higher on Monday, tracking Wall Street gains with investors digesting the latest GDP data for Japan. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.8 per cent or 242.60 points to 29,762.67 in early trade, while the broader Topix index advanced 0.7 per cent or 12.73 points to 1,946.61.

Financial markets in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are closed on Monday for public holidays.

"Singapore's budget tomorrow will be closely followed by local markets, and we expect another fiscally expansionary budget. Data is light this week with US retail sales midweek being the highlight," Mr Halley said, adding that the US markets are closed on Monday for President's Day.