Singapore shares open higher tracking Wall Street; STI up 0.2%

SINGAPORE shares started the week higher on Monday, tracking Wall Street's gains on Friday.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) gained 3.91 points or 0.2 per cent to 2,536.87 as at 9.04am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 83 to 40, after 47.8 million securities worth S$39.6 million changed hands.

Jiutian Chemical, the most heavily traded security by volume, rose 0.1 Singapore cent or 1.7 per cent to 5.9 cents after 10.5 million shares changed hands.

Singapore Medical Group's shares were unchanged at 25.5 Singapore cents on 4.2 million shares traded, while Sembcorp Marine was down 0.1 Singapore cent or 0.7 per cent to 14.6 cents after 3.6 million shares changed hands.

DBS was the only lender to lose ground among the three local banks, edging down S$0.01 or 0.1 per cent to S$21.04. UOB added S$0.05 or 0.3 per cent to S$19.50, while OCBC rose S$0.03 or 0.4 per cent to S$8.62.

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UOB on Monday said its Sydney branch intends to issue A$500 million (S$489.6 million) of senior unsecured floating rate notes due in October 2023.

In the US, stocks rose on Friday and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq registered their biggest weekly percentage gains since July as optimism over more federal fiscal aid grew.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 161.39 points or 0.6 per cent to 28,586.9, the S&P 500 gained 30.31 points or 0.9 per cent to 3,477.14 and the Nasdaq Composite added 158.96 points or 1.4 per cent to 11,579.94.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.1 per cent or 33.56 points to 23,586.13 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.1 per cent or 2.02 points to 1,645.36.