Singapore shares eke out slight gains at Thursday's open; STI up 0.1%

SINGAPORE shares struggled to advance at Thursday's open, following a flat session on Wall Street overnight.

The key Straits Times Index (STI) added 3.66 points or 0.1 per cent to 2,931.13 as at 9am. Gainers outnumbered losers 66 to 31, after 36.2 million securities worth S$24.5 million changed hands.

Jeffrey Halley, Oanda's senior market analyst for the Asia-Pacific, noted that momentum ebbed on Wall Street overnight, although tech and banking performed reasonably well.

"Banking stocks in Singapore should find support, but the delaying of the Davos conference in Singapore until August is likely to see real estate, hotels and consumer discretionary stocks start the day weaker," he told The Business Times in an email response on Thursday.

Among the index securities, the most heavily traded by volume was Singapore Telecommunications, which shed S$0.02 or 0.8 per cent to S$2.35, with two million shares traded.

Meanwhile, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding slipped 0.5 Singapore cent or 0.5 per cent to 98.5 cents, with 1.4 million shares traded.

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The trio of local lenders were up in early trade. DBS gained S$0.15 or 0.6 per cent to S$25.35, UOB rose S$0.10 or 0.4 per cent to S$23.62, while OCBC edged up S$0.05 or 0.5 per cent to S$10.41.

Singapore Post retreated 0.5 Singapore cent or 0.7 per cent to 70 cents. This comes after the postal service provider on Thursday reported an operating profit of S$26 million for the third quarter ended Dec 31, down 38 per cent from a year ago.

Separately, Wing Tai Holdings jumped S$0.05 or 2.6 per cent to S$1.95, after the mainboard-listed property and retail player on Wednesday announced that its net profit had surged 73.1 per cent to S$56.8 million for the half year ended Dec 31.

Over on Wall Street, equities finished little changed on Wednesday following better-than-expected US economic data and strong earnings from Amazon and Google parent Alphabet.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1 per cent to 30,723.60. The broad-based S&P 500 edged up 0.1 per cent to 3,830.17, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost less than 0.1 per cent at 13,610.54.

European shares closed higher on Wednesday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 climbing 0.3 per cent. Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 slipped, dragged down by healthcare stocks, whereas Vodafone jumped 5.9 per cent after saying its organic service revenue returned to growth in Q3, beating analysts' estimates.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei opened marginally lower on Thursday after US stocks barely moved overnight. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.3 per cent or 79.32 points to 28,567.18 in early trade, while the broader Topix index gained 0.2 per cent or 2.81 points to 1,873.90.

Added Mr Halley: "The data calendar is empty today across Asia, leaving markets to the mercy of swings in sentiment and headline-driven volatility."