Singapore shares rise at Monday's open, tracking US gains; STI up 0.4%

SINGAPORE stocks opened higher on Monday, tracking Wall Street gains overnight.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.4 per cent or 9.31 points to 2,520.06 as at 9.07am. Gainers outnumbered losers 98 to 67, after 144.9 million securities worth S$155.7 million changed hands.

Among the most active counters by volume was Sembcorp Industries, which gained 1.5 per cent or S$0.02 to S$1.38, with 5.4 million shares changing hands.

Other heavily traded securities included SATS, which traded flat at S$2.66, with 5.2 million shares changing hands. Meanwhile, Singtel gained 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.50, with 3.5 million shares traded.

The trio of local banks all rose in early morning trade. DBS was up 0.6 per cent or S$0.11 at S$19.58, UOB rose 0.9 per cent or S$0.18 to S$19.68, while OCBC gained 0.8 per cent or S$0.07 to S$8.62.

Other active index counters included Singapore Press Holdings, which fell 1.6 per cent or S$0.02 to S$1.26.

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ComfortDelGro Corp slipped 3.5 per cent or S$0.05 to S$1.39. On Friday, the land transport operator said its taxi drivers will now deliver food from restaurants listed on food-discovery app Burpple.

The Singapore Exchange gained 1.8 per cent or S$0.15 to S$8.43.

US stocks finished mostly higher on Friday after President Donald Trump announced measures against China in response to new security legislation that were less threatening to the US economy than investors had feared.

Meanwhile, European stocks fell on investor nerves ahead of Mr Trump's response.

In Asia, Tokyo's key Nikkei index edged up at the open on Monday, as investors looked for clues about the direction of the day's trade following a mixed close in New York.